We can multitask – listen to music while working.
Crossing the road – checking the traffic light, controlling walking pace and checking on-coming vehicles.
Senses – we can feel temperature, sense of wind / air flow, and sense of smell all at the same time.
Conversation – listening, talking and writing at the same time.
m u l t i t a s k
Multitask is not parallel tasks in the strict sense. Parallel tasks is when two or more persons doing something at the same time. Multitask is more being able to switch attention between tasks so quickly and effectively that as if the tasks are being done in isolation.
We all multitask
It seems we can multitask from a young age. We may not do it well, but we gradually improve.
How much do we multitask. More than we think, I think. As we are carrying out a task, our brain has capacity to think “ahead”, and “beyond”. Thinking ahead is like getting ready for the next step, or with tasks that require attention such as cutting vegetable, we should think about being careful with what we are doing along with the thought about “cutting”. To think “beyond”, this could be the thought of looking forward to an enjoyable meal, a relaxining time to unwind following the cooking, the way we learned this disk from our parent or others, or even vegetables can now be grown in technology centre in an underground carpark with no natural light or water.
With the billions of neurons in our brain, biologically we are able to think so many thing so quickly that we are effectively “parallel machines”. We can deal with “time travelling” (think back by recalling, think ahead by imagination), and “ideas formation” (concepts). We can think from different perspectives and understand real, potential and probable problems. We can even deal with uncertainties, and multiple layers of “what ifs”, and the probable words and actions for each of the “what ifs”.
Somebody replied back, expressing major disappopintment about how a web site is working (or not, in this case). I took a step back (virtually, in my thought process), and it was a while before I realise what the problem was. The person missed out some important information in a file received about a month ago. Being able to “slot” a piece of previous information into the “now” part of the brain, would make it far easier to deal with the task at hand about the web site.
