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Framers summary

Name: Framers
Rating: 4.1 (68 reviews)
Author: Kenneth Cukier, Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Francis de Véricourt

Kenneth Cukier Viktor Mayer-Schönberger Francis de Véricourt

Human Advantage in an Age of Technology and Turmoil

4.1 (68 ratings)

32 mins

Brief summary

'Framers' by Kenneth Cukier, Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, and Francis de Véricourt explains how framing, the way in which options are presented, impacts decision making. It offers insights into how framing can be used to influence outcomes.

Topics

Critical Thinking & Problem Solving Decision-Making Artificial Intelligence The Brain

Table of Contents

Framers
Summary of 7 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 7

What’s in it for me? Learn to recognize and change the frames through which you view the world.

Think back to 2016. Do you remember when Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, knelt down during the US national anthem to protest police brutality and racism?

Kaepernick’s action got everybody talking. Some saw it as a form of peaceful and quiet protest, while others viewed it as a disrespectful publicity stunt.

Each of these ways of looking at Kaepernick’s actions is a frame –⁠ a particular vantage point from which to see the world. Frames change the way we interpret the meaning of an issue. Racial equality, for instance, is a frame –⁠ and so is racism itself.

For most people, framing happens unconsciously. But it doesn’t have to! In fact, our future depends on our ability to get better at framing actively, and framing well. That’s what these blinks are all about.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

what happened when the Soviets applied communism to farming;
how counterfactuals helped Kennedy solve the Cuban Missile Crisis; and
why diversity is essential for human progress.

Solving future problems will require the human capacity for framing.

Since they were discovered in 1928, antibiotics have saved countless lives. However, their widespread use has also led to an unforeseen and chilling effect: certain bacteria have developed resistances to them. This means many people are now dying from once-treatable infections.

Replacements for these ineffective antibiotics were desperately needed, but scientists were having no luck finding them. New molecules similar to the old antibiotics might work for a time, but the bacteria could easily and quickly adapt to those, too – rendering them useless.

Fortunately, Regina Barzilay, a professor in artificial intelligence at MIT, had an idea for how to frame the issue in a different way. And in doing so, she highlighted a uniquely human superpower.

The key message here is: Solving future problems will require the human capacity for framing.

Barzilay’s new frame was this: What if she worked to identify substances that killed bacteria –⁠ not just recreating molecules that resembled antibiotics?

Pursuing that question, Barzilay and her team taught a computer algorithm to search through a series of molecules and identify potential bacteria-killers. In early 2020, they found just such a one – a molecule now known as halicin, which has the potential to treat drug-resistant diseases.

By reframing the issue of bacterial resistance to antibiotics and combining it with the power of AI, Barzilay solved a difficult problem. In the wake of the discovery, however, newspapers declared it a victory for AI – not for humanity.

Those headlines missed the most essential part of the story, which was Barzilay’s reframing. Up until that point, researchers had framed the issue in terms of conventional drug development. It was Barzilay and her team –⁠ not the algorithm –⁠ that came up with the new frame, chose the compounds to teach the computer, and used their biological knowledge to confirm halicin’s potential.

So, sure, AI can make detached, objective decisions –⁠ but it can’t frame. That means we can’t rely on computers to solve all our future problems. But, equally, we can’t rely solely on human gut instinct, either. Leadership and decisions guided by emotion alone lead to disasters like populism and cancel culture.

The solution, instead, is to capitalize on the human power to frame. Framing allows us to see our greatest challenges –⁠ like climate change, pandemics, and violent oppression, to name a few –⁠ in a new light. And in viewing these issues differently, we may finally solve them.

Frames infuse every aspect of our lives.

In the 1930s, the Soviet Union attempted to apply communist ideals to farming practices. To do that, they adopted Lysenkoism, a theory of plant genetics based on Marxist-Leninist thought. Lysenkoism promoted a number of bogus claims, like the idea that crops could be planted very close together. Supposedly, the crops wouldn’t compete for resources, just like members of the same social class in a communist society would not compete with one another.

This policy, as you might imagine, was a total disaster. It’s also a perfect example of framing gone awry. The Soviet Union increased the area of cultivated land a hundredfold, yet yields rotted or died, leading to mass famine and death. The nation had taken a frame from economics –⁠ communism –⁠ and applied it to farming, with brutal ramifications.

Well-reasoned causal inferences help us frame better.

Ben Bernanke is an economist who’s known for helping prevent total disaster during the 2008 financial crisis. Things were looking dire for banks, but policymakers were operating under the frame that bailing out individual firms would create perverse incentives for others.

Bernanke thought differently. He’d studied the 1929 market crash that led to the Great Depression – and so he understood the causal links between the central bank’s response and the damage it had done to the economy. Bernanke directed the Federal Reserve to buy up assets from banks, thus supplying them with new cash they could lend and infuse the economy with.

Counterfactuals enable us to consider alternate realities.

It was the final game of the 2018 World Cup, and French striker Antoine Griezmann was gearing up to take a free kick. As his shot hurtled toward the goal, it skimmed the top of Croatian defender Mario Mandžukić, shifting the ball just out of the goalie’s reach and into the back of the net.

The referee for the game recorded the point as an “own goal” for Croatia. To make that call, the ref imagined an alternate reality –⁠ a counterfactual –⁠ in which Mandžukić hadn’t touched the ball. And he concluded that, in this imaginary version of the game, the goalie would’ve easily caught it –⁠ making Mandžukić, rather than Griezmann, the true goal scorer.

Constraints helpfully restrict the number of possible frames.

The architect Frank Gehry famously claimed that his most difficult assignment was one in which he was told to build a house with no constraints whatsoever. The assignment paralyzed him; with so many options, he didn’t know which way to turn.

Conversely, when the children’s writer Theodor Seuss Geisel, or Dr. Seuss, was challenged to write a book with just 50 different words of one syllable each, he came up with the immensely popular Green Eggs and Ham.

Choose a reframing strategy based on the situation at hand.

Have you heard the expression, If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail? All too often, this is the relationship we have with frames. We tend to stick to the frames we know well and have applied in the past. That’s not necessarily bad; in fact, it can frequently help us make quick decisions that lead to good outcomes. The catch is that leaning on the same frames all the time reduces our ability to switch perspectives and reframe a situation when necessary.

Make no mistake: reframing is anything but easy. However, resisting known frames and generating new ones is sometimes the only way to solve a problem.

Frame pluralism ensures individual, organizational, and societal progress.

In 1959, there were three times as many tech companies based around Boston’s Route 128 as there were in Silicon Valley. By 1990, that statistic was exactly the reverse. What happened?

Well, East Coast tech companies were focused on stability over novel thinking. Its organizations were deeply formal and hierarchical, and employees were rewarded for sticking to what corporate higher-ups thought was best. Over on the West Coast, though, the business environment was flush with small, decentralized companies that prized innovation and novelty. Employees from different firms were encouraged to meet with one other to share ideas.

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What is Framers about?

Framers (2021) takes a bird’s eye view of the issues facing our world today, from pandemics to political polarization, and presents a visionary solution. That solution lies with framing –⁠ the conscious or unconscious act of viewing the world through a particular lens. By recognizing and rethinking the frames we use, we can optimize our attitudes toward the world and give ourselves a leg up in the face of major social, economic, and scientific challenges.

Framers Review

Framers (2021) is an enlightening examination of how framing, the way we present choices and information, profoundly shapes our decision-making. Here's why this book is worth reading:

It explores the powerful influence of framing on our perceptions and behaviors, offering valuable insights for making wiser choices in life and business.
Through a range of compelling examples and case studies, the book delves into the practical implications and consequences of framing, enhancing our understanding of the world around us.
Rigorous research and analysis combine with accessible writing, making for an engaging and thought-provoking read that can transform the way we think and make decisions.

Who should read Framers?

Abstract thinkers concerned about global issues
Decision-makers who tend to over-rely on their gut instincts
Innovators struggling to bring their vision into reality

About the Author

Kenneth Cukier is a journalist and a senior editor at the Economist. He is the coauthor of Big Data, a New York Times best seller, and hosts Babbage, a science and technology podcast.

Viktor Mayer-Schönberger is a professor at Oxford University’s Oxford Internet Institute. He advises Angela Merkel as part of Germany’s Digital Council, and he coauthored Big Data with Kenneth Cukier.

Francis de Véricourt is a professor of management science and director of the Center for Decisions, Models, and Data at Berlin’s European School of Management and Technology.

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Technology & the Future Psychology

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