FUTURISTS: What Their Perspectives Are

Futurists are those who look to and provide analysis of the future.

This section focuses on the thoughts or views of futurists and what they think about the evolution of the human brain throughout the ages.

One futurist named Daniel Pink expresses his views in his best-selling book “A Whole New Mind”. Daniel Pink states in his book that we have traveled from the Informational Age to the Conceptual Age. Mr. Pink breaks it down even more by explaining that we as humans have evolved from using our “left brains” (the left hemisphere of the brain) to using or “right brains” (the right hemisphere of the brain). The difference between the two hemispheres is what they focus on. The right brain focuses on creative things such as artistry, innovation, imagination, and big-picture thinking. The left brain focuses on things logical, linear, and sequential. According to Daniel Pink, in this Conceptual age we will need to depend on our right brains more than ever.

Another futurist named Thomas Friedman expresses his thoughts in his book “The World Is Flat”. Unlike Daniel Pink, Thomas Friedman investigates and writes about globalization.
Globalization is the tendency of businesses, technologies, or philosophies to spread throughout the world, or the process of making this happen. He searches for and discusses the forces driving what he calls the flattening of the world. What he means by the world is flat is “There is a level now a level global competitive playing field. People around the world can now plug and play, connect and collaborate more than ever.” In his book, he states that there are ten forces that are flattening the world which are the collapse of the Berlin Wall, Netscape, workflow software, open sourcing, outsourcing, off shoring, supply chaining, insourcing, in-forming, and “the steroids.” His message is very concise and clear: be prepared, because this spectacle waits for no one.

Technically, we are not futurists. We do however, think about the future occasionally and we agree with Daniel Pink and Thomas Friedman’s theories. We believe that our brains are developing as time changes. In our opinion, being prepared means strengthening our right brain abilities because they are necessary for us to keep up with the rapid globalization. Our dependency on the left brain was once very vital and still is but the right brain is also now very important also. Lawyers, accountants and statisticians use their left brains heavily, but with the advances in technology have diminished the roles of these careers by the use of software and outsourcing. People are now using their right brains to invent new technology such as the iPhone, airport security system that inquires you emotions and a robot that can imitate human features. Times are changing rapidly, and if we don’t keep up, we will be left behind.

This concept not only applies to adults even though both authors wrote to an adult audience, but also students like you and because we (the children) are the future. If we, students start to think with our right brains then we not only prepare ourselves for the future but also teach our brains how to stay ahead of the trends. This globalization that Thomas Friedman discusses is not going to stop anytime soon. After our basic educational careers are over and we are launched into the real world head-first, we will need to depend on our own brains to survive. Corporations are now looking for fresh right brain thinkers that can keep up with current ages. Now-a-days, business meetings are conducted online using Cisco systems to connect people around the world. By the time we get out into the real world, we might be in our offices in Los Angeles having a webcam chat with our partners in India.

Thomas Frey makes many points in his paper about the future of education. Within these points, he also combines or backs them up with modern life situations and powerful statistics. The first point is ………

We (the society in the United States as a whole) are still using outdated systems or operations to accomplish simple tasks. Frey uses the income tax system as a prime example off an incomprehensible system that is slowing us down or more specially “slowing commerce and the pace of business to a crawl.”

His second point is describing eight key trends that are driving change in the world of education. There is a transition for teaching to learning. In the past, there was clear picture of teaching and learning which was black and white. Now, there is a gray area because teachers are now learning just as much as much as their students are and vice versa. There is now technology that now gives people the chance to create, teach and learn all at the same time.

Futurists’ Daniel Pink, Thomas Frey, and Thomas Friedman views on the evolution of the brain affect students because we have to start thinking about how we are going to stay ahead in this new Conceptual age, as Daniel Pink calls it. As stated earlier, times are changing rapidly, and if we don’t keep up, we will be left behind.