Dots: When to Connect and When to Collect?

In Seth Godin's post of a similar title, he argues that the connecting the dots is becoming more important than ever.

I don't disagree that connecting the dots is becoming more important, but I would like to argue that knowing when to stop collecting and beginning to connect the dots is by far the most important.

Case in point, just now, I randomly typed in 2 symptoms(fever and bloating) into WebMd and 75 possible conditions, all relatively equally likely, were listed as the cause: everything ranging from the flu to Hepatitis to Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Chances are you'd be wrong, if you were to give a diagnosis based on those 2 symptoms alone.

It would be like trying to have someone replicate a circle by providing them only 2 dots on that circle; reproducing the circle is possible, but the most likely result is that the other person will simply draw a line. They connected the dots as any perfectly logical person would, yet came up with the completely wrong answer, simply based on lack of enough information.

On the other extreme side, there are many people who are in very long relationships before deciding that the other person is, or is not, the one they would like to marry. Granted, sometimes that is due to other reasons, but after a time of about two years, there isn't really anything significant left to learn about the other person. As my mom would say, "It's time to shit or get off the toilet."

I don't think the true magic is in either collecting or connecting dots, but in the ability to know when which is appropriate.