A new service called “Hunch” has been getting some buzz around the blogosphere. Started by Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake, this website aims to help the indecisive among us make good decisions on a range of topics. The project is still in private beta so most of us will need to wait to get a direct look, but reading some reviews so far sparked some thoughts about this service and what it says about our ability to make decisions.
The Good
- Hunch applies a “crowd-sourcing” strategy (like Wikipedia) to the problem of making decisions. It’s worked fairly well in other spheres, so why not here?
- Many other users giving input to your questions provide a range of knowledge, opinion, and experience on various topics.
- It asks a series of relevant questions to the issue, helping a person think through the process of coming to a good conclusion (this could potentially help a person learn to make good decisions on their own, too)
The Bad
- It defers responsibilty for making decisions to a service, enabling those who are indecisive to delay growing up and making their own choices
- A group of strangers doesn’t know all the factors of the situation you’re in, and their advice will only be effective to the limits of their knowledge of your context
- It takes what should be the role of a community to support, encourage, and advise people and relegates it to a virtual community that may lack those real-life personal ties.
- Hunch relies on the wisdom of the masses (or at least those that choose to respond to your question) to provide a correct decision. The problem is, the majority opinion isn’t always the right decision.
I definitely think Hunch has potential and will probably be a successful service. It could be a great help for everyday questions like, “What should I wear today?”, “Which insurance company should I use?”, or “Where should I go for dinner tonight?” I’m wary, however, of using a service like this to answer some of life’s more significant questions. In the end, we are responsible for our own decisions and need to take responsibility for them, but a trusted community of friends and mentors can make all the difference, too.
Learn more about Hunch here:
