The Spock Conundrum

 

One of the trickiest aspects of problem solving is the role of our emotions. Every detective or scientist is, to some degree, like the Star Trek character Mr. Spock, half Vulcun, devoid of emotion, and half human, seemingly dominated by it. Spock was always suppressing his human side so as to be completely logical and unbiased. However, it always seemed that Spock was at his best when he allowed his human side, his emotions, to be expressed just a little bit. Science is like that. Enthusiasm is what drives us, allows us to stay up late into the night when we’re onto something, makes us press on when others tell us to quit. 

All of the processes associated with science—peer review, reproducibility, statistical standards—are part of our acceptance that we make mistakes, that we’re human. The danger of suppressing emotions is that, in truth, they’re still there. They still affect us even when we suppress them, but then we’re blind to them. To deny your feelings is to deny reality. 

One of the many things I learned in Toastmasters, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving public speaking skills, was that emotions are not to be suppressed, they are to be focused. We were taught to use our nervous energy, to let it enhance our presentations. Science and problem solving are like this as well. Focused enthusiasm goes a long way to finding breakthroughs. It is a balancing act. By the way, I highly recommend Toastmasters. I learned many important public speaking and leadership skills: How to find my loud voice, how to move eye contact throughout the room so as to engage everyone, how to use body movement and pauses to emphasis transitions, how to get back on track when you forget your lines, and some really advanced stuff like the ancient Chinese art of Tai Ming.