High-Reliability Organizing (HRO) and Abrupt Change from COVID 19: Failure of Scientific Rationality and Classical Logic

Neonatologists built the science of neonatology with logic and rationality. The cognitive processes of scientific rationality and classical logic, developed for a structured environment, are poorly defined for operational use. The first impairments from even mild uncontrollable stress are in the cognitive and memory areas of the brain. A 'cosmology' event collapses our sensemaking even as we believe in our own rationality. The novice does not have personal anecdotes that are protective in such a collapse. When applying the abstractions of logic to a particular concrete situation, we can fulfill our own sensemaking, or we can make sense for the good of the community. It is the premise and logic that differ. The dominant narrative from scientific rationality and classical logic has become privileged with the loss of knowledge gained during risky operations. Such lost knowledge creates inaccurate models with long-lasting effects on education and policy. In the operational environment, lost knowledge can kill.