The Internet in its right mind
I have been reading a great book by Daniel Pink called A Whole New Mind. The argument being put forward is that in today’s society, which Pink calls the Conceptual Age, a person is required to be more right-minded and therefore more inventive, empathetic, and meaningful - as opposed to a left-minded person who is by definition more analytical such as doctors, accountants etc.
Much of the discussion put forward by Pink mirrors a lot of the ideas we hold today about the ‘new’ Internet. Firstly, Pink says that society has transformed through stages of agriculture (farmers), industrial (factory workers), information (knowledge workers) to the conceptual age (creators and empathisers) - which is the period we are embarking on now. The movement from information to conceptual on the Internet is certainly the case.
The ‘new’ Internet - Web 2.0 - is a distinct shift from the simple publishing of one-dimensional information to a dynamic environment of creation, editing, contributing, recreation and definitely empathy for each others opinions, creations and contributions. Within each person’s Facebook profile we find a healthy dose of right brain conceptualisation.
Pink argues that the growth in influence of right-brain thinkers in this modern age is the result of a number of factors shaping our everyday society. Inter alia the growth of low cost knowledge economies in Asia and India has led to the outsourcing of so much work such as software development, accounting, and even medical by Western countries that it is making these left brain skills in the developed countries largely redundant. In their place is the demand for more designers, inventors, entrepreneurial types who can see the big picture - bring all the pieces together and so on. Similarly, improvements in technology that master many of the knowledge workers functions including the creation of software code, linear decision-making for medical diagnosis, number crunching for accounting and the bringing together of skills from every corner of the globe further exasperates the redundancies on these left brain services. It is easier today, according to Pink, for right brain dreamers to get their ideas realised with cheaper access to analytical and knowledge services.
This definitely is the case in the new Internet where we see a massive growth in start-up businesses that tap into both our creative and empathetic values; sites where we promote ourselves through building up our profiles for others to admire through friend networks and inter-link relationships, such as Facebook, Twitter, Friend Feed, and even the common blog. The growth in ‘platforms’ such as Ning or Yahoo Pipes further allow us to produce our own creations almost on the fly.
Obviously a society of purely right brained designers and creators doesn’t sound like an economic mecca and Pink spends the second half of his excellent book discussing ‘a whole new mind’, one that takes advantage of both the left and right minds. However, so far this book has been a great read and it is interesting for me to see the reality of psychology in things we do everyday in our business.
May 5th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Sounds cool, can I read it after you?