Multitasking doesn't work in soldiering, and certainly not in combat.

I have read recollections of combat from dfferent wars and different armies where individuals were so focused on the combat that they actually lost track of time.

'Tasking' is a distinct part of training in the various armies, where personnel are educated to execute their missions in SOP task-sequences. This helps response in emergency when there isn't time to think, and everyone around the individual can trust to know what to expect when he/she executes the mission. its true for individual tasking and unit tasking.

And then there is Hollywood :-)

For more science on multitasking, see Switch on your brain, Caroline Leaf, ch.6.

Greg

On 24 June 2015 at 17:39, Richard Aiken <raikenclw@gmail.com> wrote:

On Wed, Jun 24, 2015 at 3:27 AM, Richard Aiken <raikenclw@gmail.com> wrote:
A "human" race that's so electronically interconnected from early childhood . . .

Ah!

I just remembered this:

I was listening to NPR a while back and they had a story about a recent scientific study conducted on multitasking. Specifically, this study examined the apparent ability of younger people these days to do several things at once with multimedia devices, such as write a post, surf the net, watch a video, play a game, etc.

What the study found is that users aren't actually doing everything at the same time. Instead, what their young minds are capable of doing which older ones can't do relatively rapidly switch their focus between these various points. Whatever they aren't actively paying attention to at any given moment doesn't impinge on their awareness to a significant degree. They seem to tune it out like old-time radio static, while they pay attention to whatever currently has their interest.

In a combat environment, successfully being able to *ignore* the input from all but one of your data sources at a time would not be a survival-enhancing ability . . . .

--
Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident." Robert A. Heinlein
"A word to the wise ain't necessary -- it's the stupid ones that need the advice." - Bill Cosby
"We know a little about a lot of things; just enough to make us dangerous." Dean Winchester
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