Great essay by Malcolm Gladwell about thin-slicing and snap judgements. By means of catching stories, the author lets understand the magical and mysterious facets of the judgement. He explains that many right decisive decisions are based on gut feeling (unconscious) compared to other more thourougful and deliberate (conscious), based on a bulk of data and information. However he also warns how instinctive decisions can go awry many times. In a world saturated with information we've come to confuse information with understanding. The key of good decision making is not knowledge, but understanding. Indeed we're swimming in the former, while we're lacking in the latter. Thus the best way is try to puzzle out the right mix of conscious and unconscious analysis on a case-by-case basis. According to the author, the task of figuring out how to combine the best of conscious deliberation (rational analysis) and instinctive judgement is one of the great challenges of our time. Or, said in other words, when to think and when to blink.
