It has been said that when sailing ships arrived in the New World, the native people could not see the ships. They had no experience with European sailing ships so their minds did not see the ships because they had not been exposed to the concept. Only the shamans had the sense that something was there and used their trained minds to pierce the fog and recognize the new presence in their lives.
A modern example might be if we were escorted on board a UFO or a spaceship from 1,000 years in the future. What would it do to our minds? How much could we see? How much could we understand?
The same may be said of Google wave (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Wave or http://wave.google.com). People who don’t seek out new technology or train their minds to see the possibilities may have missed the significance. I like technology because only technology has the power to change our future for the better. Segueway to SuperFreakonomics…
I have two other recent favorites of mind for thinking about things in different ways and expanding one’s mind to the possibilities. The first is “SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bomber’s Should Buy Life Insurance” by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. (see http://www.amazon.com/SuperFreakonomics-Cooling-Patriotic-Prostitutes-Insurance/dp/0060889578 ) I like the application of economic principals to areas outside of money. This application is often called micro-economics. The results can be unexpected and cause us to expand our thoughts beyond the traditional. {Hint: see the chapter on global warming/cooling in SuperFreakonomics.}
The blogosphere has been so in an uproar over their conclusions that Levitt had to defend them in the NY Times: http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/the-superfreakonomics-global-warming-fact-quiz/
The second new favorite of mind for expanding thought is latest offering from Malcolm Gladwell “What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures” (see http://www.amazon.com/What-Dog-Saw-Other-Adventures/dp/0316075841 )
This is a sampling of previously published material that is also available online (see http://kottke.org/09/09/new-gladwell-book-what-the-dog-saw ). Here a few of my favorites:
Blowing Up – How Nassim Taleb turned the inevitability of disaster into an investment strategy. (Apr 22, 2002)
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John Rock’s Error – What the inventor of the birth control pill didn’t know about women’s health. (Mar 13, 2000)
What the Dog Saw – Cesar Millan and the movements of mastery. (May 22, 2006)
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