This is a video that my brother-in-law made for my sister-in-law for Christmas. I wonder how weird people will think we are after seeing this, but I laughed so hard I actually hurt the next day...

Cobrobot Fighting Systems

Brief Synopsis:  A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink is a compelling read by Daniel Pink.  He explains, in layman’s terms, what each side of the brain does and how they are inextricably and beguilingly linked.  Moreover, he makes a forceful argument that we are in the midst of a radical shift – gone are the days when simply being a left-brained smarty number-cruncher was enough to grant you success in life.  Pink’s thesis, and he does give advice on how to achieve this goal, is that the modern guy or gal must strive beyond traditional intelligence into the mysterious territory of the right-brain: emotion, creativity, humor, artistry, and meaning.   

My Comments: 

Who would have thought that a non-fiction book about the brain could be a quick and fun read?  Or maybe I’m just a big, undeniable dork?  A few personal thoughts – I liked the first 3 chapters a lot.  Two parts did stick out to me as troublesome; one I could make a real “beef” about, but the other is really just a stylistic pet peeve. 

Beef #1:  On page 45, Pink talks about Automation and its role in the medical field.  He says that “an array of software and online programs [have] emerged that allow patients to answer a series of questions on their computer screens and arrive at preliminary diagnos[e]s without the assistance of a physician.  Health care consumers have begun to use such tools both ‘to figure out their risk of serious diseases – such as heart failure, coronary artery disease and some of the most common cancers - [and] to make life-and-death treatment decisions once they are diagnosed,’ reports the Wall Street Journal.”  I realize that he is quoting the Wall Street Journal in that second sentence, but I find the idea of that kind of Automation absolutely ridiculous even if Health Care Companies and Drug Manufactories are crossing their fingers and saying “Pretty please, pretty please, don’t go to the doctor!” a million times over.  No sick person, nervous, emotional, and scared, can make a rational decision about their own health care from a A-B-C choice tree on a website.  Also, it is well known that those drug commercials that describe symptoms, (“Do you ever feel blah, blah, blah…?”) aren’t looking out for anyone, but are rather “coaching” people to say the right key words so doctors will prescribe their drug, regardless of whether or not the patient actually has that conditional.

Beef #2:  That Michael Graves toilet brush on page 34 is hideous.  And does it really look that different from a regular toilet brush?  They sell the same thing at Ikea for $.99.

 

Questions I would like to ask the author, Daniel Pink –

1. Chapter 1 – on page 20, you mention that language originates in the left hemisphere for about 95 percent of right-handers and 70 percent of left-handers and that “In the rest – about 8 percent of the population – the division of linguistic labor is more complicated.”  Can you explain this in further detail?  For instance, my husband, who is in his mid thirties, is one of those people who was forced to be a right-handed person even though he had left-handed tendencies.  He has terrible hand writing and always struggled with traditional learning.  He is, however, an incredible artist, so I found this tidbit of knowledge really interesting and wanted to know more.
2. Chapter 2 - If your hypothesis about L-directed workers fading from the American workforce “limelight,” how can such workers reinforce themselves for the future?  (As I read ahead, I see that he goes on to answer this question thoroughly…)
3. Chapter 3 - On page 49, you give a very helpful chart titled “From the Agricultural Age to the Conceptual Age,” which charts the blossoming of R-directed thinking through the centuries on an unstoppable upward line.  However, as a literature teacher, I got to thinking…  In my classes, we often discuss how the literary trends, social trends, educational trends, even fashion trends, are predictably pendulous.  Staunch, political, “age of reason” times bleed into imaginative, romantic emotional times which in turn swing back to something more rational.  Bell bottoms go out of style in exchange for leggings which metamorphosize into straight-leg jeans which rebirth into the “skinny” jean.  These trends seem to demonstrate man’s innate fickleness.  How do you explain this in terms of your L-directed / R-directed hypothesis?  Are we simply experiencing the beginning of an R-directed thinking trend?  Do you envision there ever being a pendulous swing against it? 

 

 

 

 

Phew....  I'm doing a new library program called LATI.  It's really kicking my hiney.  (sp?)  I'm finding it incredibly difficult to keep up with what I'm supposed to be doing when.  There are multiple mini-projects that we begin and stop mid-project that we're supposed to resume days/weeks later...  

It's very uncomfortable to feel like I have no clue what I'm doing.  I'm not used to feeling this way.  I hope my students don't feel like this.