Blog Magic?
I have always believed that small groups can sometimes perform magic. But, what about large groups? Can crowds, like all of you blog readers out there, do the same?
Timothy Gowers, a Cambridge University mathematician (who won the Fields Metal, his profession’s highest honor), has a math blog. A particularly puzzling problem in higher mathematics, the Density Hales-Jewett Theorem, had remained unsolved for decades.
As reported in the New York Times, (http://www.nytimes.com/projects/magazine/ideas/2009/#m-2) Gowers asked his blog readers to take a crack at it. This was an experiment in “massively collaborative mathematics,” he reasoned. Success would come with any progress on the baffling problem. In just six weeks, after more than 100,000 postings from around the world, his blog produced not only progress but also the proof of the stubborn theorem. Sometimes many heads truly are better than one.
On a smaller scale, this is precisely what happens when a group of cancer survivors at HopeWell focus on a problem face-to-face. Say, for example, that Nancy is overwhelmed by starting another round of radiation treatment. One group member might say, “I’ll take your children to daycare.” Another member, who’s been through the same treatment, will offer to take Nancy to the hospital. Others will challenge her pessimism and encourage her confidence.
Presto! The collaboration has changed things. Nancy is no longer thinking that she can’t manage her treatments, because her support group is telling her, “Maybe you cannot do it by yourself. But with us, there’s always a solution.”
So, if you’ve gotten stuck in your coping, you might want to bring it to our community, either in person or on this website. You might just find your own personal “presto!” moments.
Thomas Large, M.M.H., LCSW-C Clinical Director, HopeWell Cancer Support
P.O. Box 755