i am just starting to get my thoughts together on the book so bear with me. i also don't have it with me. the argument of the book seems to have two prongs. one is that we should become more creative/relational and storytelling, organic thinkers (more left brained and less right brained), which i think is a fine outlook to have. the second though, is that we should do this primarily because the right brained jobs are getting outsourced to other countires and that to maintain a competitive edge, we need to start getting artsy so that we as a country still have something that other countries do not. i resent this idea for several reasons. one is that there is no reason why other countries could not become equally art oriented. the other is that it ignores the fact that left brain activities and expression are essential for wellbeing, so no one country should deal exclusively in visual arts or graphic design and left brain thinking in general. I also think that outsourcing is a pretty harmful trend, both to us and to the countries to which we outsource but i don't want to go into that so much. I guess my real problem with the argument is that he is justifying that is inherently healthy (art, expression, narrative, and relational living) and justifying it with notions of getting ahead and remaining competitive, which i think is shortsighted and not a compassionate global outlook. so i don't know if anyone else had similar reservations about the book or not, but i will be curious to hear others' thoughts.
I really agree with Audrey in the fact that I feel though the author has great points, but some of them are not well justified. He goes through all the ages of our brain,through the agricultural, industrial, information, and now the conceptual. It kind of shows the progression of not only our brains but our cultures, and how weve gone from more labor use of the brain to information and to the new age of creativity (that is if you want to run a successful business). He then shows how we use both our left and right brain thorugh different excercise and examples in the text, which i have looked up some others on the internet to test out on my roommates for a little better understanding how the mind works. Pink mostly asserts that in order to be successful we need to step it up and become creative and empathetic like countries in asia and europe are realizing and thus why outsourcing can occur (if i understand that correctly). I feel that this assumption is not justifyable. Outsourcing and loss of jobs occurs because certain countries like asia and india will do our job cheaper, or a business creates a computer to do it( which is where i feel that the line of technology being a great thing and a burden sometimes is crossed). For the most part you need a balance of your conceptual and informational side (left brain), and your artsy, creative side (right brain). That is when one will be most successful and discovery your potential or balance is the key to all of this.
So far I have been extremely intrigued by a whole new mind. Growing up I was always given the impression in school that math, english, science, etc. were more important than the arts. They received more funding, had higher credit values and met more regularly than my artistic extra-curricular activities. When I began applying to colleges I knew I wanted to study either music or visual art, I had also resolved myself to a world of limited job opportunities and financial opportunities. However, my time spent studying the fine arts at Ithaca College have opened my eyes to a world of music possibilities and this book also has helped to reinforce that in my mind. Society cannot exist without art, beauty, empathy because human beings have progressed past simply surviving. We now need enternainment or other forms of fulfillment in our lives that are supplied by creators and artists.
3 comments:
i am just starting to get my thoughts together on the book so bear with me. i also don't have it with me. the argument of the book seems to have two prongs. one is that we should become more creative/relational and storytelling, organic thinkers (more left brained and less right brained), which i think is a fine outlook to have. the second though, is that we should do this primarily because the right brained jobs are getting outsourced to other countires and that to maintain a competitive edge, we need to start getting artsy so that we as a country still have something that other countries do not. i resent this idea for several reasons. one is that there is no reason why other countries could not become equally art oriented. the other is that it ignores the fact that left brain activities and expression are essential for wellbeing, so no one country should deal exclusively in visual arts or graphic design and left brain thinking in general. I also think that outsourcing is a pretty harmful trend, both to us and to the countries to which we outsource but i don't want to go into that so much. I guess my real problem with the argument is that he is justifying that is inherently healthy (art, expression, narrative, and relational living) and justifying it with notions of getting ahead and remaining competitive, which i think is shortsighted and not a compassionate global outlook. so i don't know if anyone else had similar reservations about the book or not, but i will be curious to hear others' thoughts.
I really agree with Audrey in the fact that I feel though the author has great points, but some of them are not well justified. He goes through all the ages of our brain,through the agricultural, industrial, information, and now the conceptual. It kind of shows the progression of not only our brains but our cultures, and how weve gone from more labor use of the brain to information and to the new age of creativity (that is if you want to run a successful business). He then shows how we use both our left and right brain thorugh different excercise and examples in the text, which i have looked up some others on the internet to test out on my roommates for a little better understanding how the mind works. Pink mostly asserts that in order to be successful we need to step it up and become creative and empathetic like countries in asia and europe are realizing and thus why outsourcing can occur (if i understand that correctly). I feel that this assumption is not justifyable. Outsourcing and loss of jobs occurs because certain countries like asia and india will do our job cheaper, or a business creates a computer to do it( which is where i feel that the line of technology being a great thing and a burden sometimes is crossed). For the most part you need a balance of your conceptual and informational side (left brain), and your artsy, creative side (right brain). That is when one will be most successful and discovery your potential or balance is the key to all of this.
So far I have been extremely intrigued by a whole new mind. Growing up I was always given the impression in school that math, english, science, etc. were more important than the arts. They received more funding, had higher credit values and met more regularly than my artistic extra-curricular activities. When I began applying to colleges I knew I wanted to study either music or visual art, I had also resolved myself to a world of limited job opportunities and financial opportunities. However, my time spent studying the fine arts at Ithaca College have opened my eyes to a world of music possibilities and this book also has helped to reinforce that in my mind. Society cannot exist without art, beauty, empathy because human beings have progressed past simply surviving. We now need enternainment or other forms of fulfillment in our lives that are supplied by creators and artists.
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