Chapter four of Think Like a Freak is all about finding the root cause of various problems rather than stopping at the surface, where the authors believe most people stop. This chapter provides many different examples of problems that might seem to have simple solutions, but in reality have very complex solutions. For instance, if one is going to fix poverty, he needs more than just a bunch of money. Rather, he needs a plan to eradicate the sorts of structural barriers that ensure that the resources always flow away from the poor and toward the wealthy. The authors use many different examples across many different policy topics in order to demonstrate this point.
The primary thesis of this chapter is that with every problem, the solution lies not in the symptoms, but rather, at the root of the issue. If one wants to truly understand why something happens, then one needs to dig deeper in order to understand the underlying factors that allowed that condition to occur.
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There are a few different examples of how the medical industry deals with symptoms rather than getting to the root. Because there is not yet a cure for HIV or AIDS, the medical community simply gives individuals a cocktail of drugs in order to manage their symptoms. The same is true of the field of “pain management,” which seeks to give individuals drugs for pain rather than dealing with whatever is causing the pain in the first place.
The primary thesis for chapter five is that it can be better to keep things simple rather than trying to overcomplicate every matter. The authors write that people – especially smart people – have a nagging tendency to try and make everything as hard as possible. This is not the right way to approach a problem however. They use evidence to suggest that quite often, keeping things simple will lead to better results over the long term. This thesis is right in some regards, but it may fail as an overall rule. There are a host of different tasks and functions where it might be better to take the complicated approach rather than the simple one.
Chapter six proposes that if one wants to motivate a person, then it is best to use incentives. However, the incentives must be appropriately sized, and they must reflect an understanding of a person’s true targets. The authors note that some people are motivated by certain factors, while others are motivated by other factors. This is a strong thesis, and the authors are correct that if one wants to induce performance, it is important not only to incentivize, but to make sure that the incentives are both strong and targeted.
Chapter seven is all about game theory and how to induce the action that one wants out of another party. Quite often, getting the result that one wants is all about ensuring that one has created the right conditions in which to receive the response that an individual wants. The thesis is that game theory is something that can motivate the response that a person wants even when the odds do not seem to be in that person’s favor. The authors cite multiple examples of people who utilize game theory in order to get individuals to respond in certain ways. They also discuss the importance of teaching one’s garden to weed itself. This is about removing some of the mundane actions involved in maintaining one’s life. The important thing sometimes is to create arrangements where results happen on their own so that a person is not left with so much work just to maintain his own life.
