A Whole New Mind

Our discussion in class on wednesday touched on the topic of creativity and how it is not as encouraged as it should be. This reminded me of a book called A Whole New Mind. I did not read the book through but I did skim through it and read some chapters. I was able to get the gist of it and brings up a very interesting point. Most of the book is about how left brain thinkers are on their way out and the future is going to be about right brained individuals.

Our parents encouraged us to become things like accountants and engineers and jobs that require us to think with the left side of our brains. Rarely does a parents encourage a child to become an artist or a poet. This book suggests that the world is changing and the future is not a place for left brain thinkers. The future is going to be a place for creative thinkers who have empathy and care about meaning in all things.

At first I thought this was silly but the more I thought about it, the more sense it makes. The age of information is coming to a close. This very class is evidence to support that. I don't think a class like this would have existed 20 years ago. We are thinking outside of the box and searching for meaning. Even the growing focus on the environment, in my opinion, supports this idea. We are beginning to see the big picture not just blindly going through life and taking things for granted. I like the idea of the world going in this direction. I think it would be a good change for the focus to be put on meaning and creativity in things for a while. Maybe this could bring about a nice balance in the world that would allow for us to better the environment and be happier as a whole. Whether or not this hypothesis is true it is still an interesting read. I would definitely recommend it.