One of my friends commented that there is non limit to human stupidity and I objected that this is not the case. What pushed the first two characters (the fly is the third one) to act this way was another big problem of human mind: the sudden setting of the seems-to-be main goal.
The true problem for the two characters in the video is the choice of the goal they would pursue to solve their problem; the same happens inside teams too when they are looking for a good solution the a rising problem.
Strange: the goal and the solution of a problem sometime seem so tied together that just one amongst many possible different solving actions is transformed immediately into a goal and the person/teams struggle to pursue this objective instead of let evolving actions for the solution of the problem.
So, starting with the first instinctive response, the two allied opponents have set their goal and immediately forgotten the problem they had to face: Problem/Solution indeed belong to a higher abstraction level compared with goals, but Goal is easier to be maintained.
Just when many attempts to achieve the same goal (not to speak about the many repeating actions peoples normally do to achieve the same wrong goal!), peoples normally accept to discuss their original goal. Indeed just the not human player found the right solution in the movie!
So to have a solution to a problem, local goals must be frequently reshaped on the fly (!)
Moreover, in this particular case there is another important factor the main attacking players would not take into account: John Nash's Equilibrium Theory. Using that, they could get the right response to the disturbing flying object! And again: just a not human player gave the answer.
I have no idea how well prepared was Alan Short about human mind and John Nash's theory, but sometime artists are able to recognize things that scientists reach after a long while!
