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Five Minds for the Future

Five Minds for the Future. October 11 2006 Royal Society of the Arts Howard Gardner. The News. Five Minds do not = 8, 8 ½, or 9 intelligences. Themes and Images of the Future. globalization proliferation of knowledge new disciplines and interdisciplinary efforts instant communications

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Five Minds for the Future

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  1. Five Minds for the Future • October 11 2006 • Royal Society of the Arts • Howard Gardner

  2. The News • Five Minds do not = 8, 8 ½, or 9 intelligences

  3. Themes and Images of the Future • globalization • proliferation of knowledge • new disciplines and interdisciplinary efforts • instant communications • unprecedented competitiveness • the genetics revolution • new forms of criminal activity (cyber) • Possible/probable clash of civilizations, worlds

  4. Newly at a premium in this century • Out-of-the-box thinking • Flexibility, “just in time” responses • Going beyond the disciplines • Problem-centered teams • Complex “Hollywood style” projects and productions • Forms of nonlinear thinking • Beyond power point!

  5. The Five Minds • Disciplined • Synthesizing • Creating • Respectful • Ethical

  6. Greatest invention of last 2000 years?

  7. The Disciplined Mind • The ways of thinking in the major disciplines • Science (correlation not same as causation; matters of evidence vs faith, opinion) • History (role of human agency, no experiments possible, avoid presentism, each generation rewrites) • Mathematics (beyond formulas, engage in discovery) • The arts (beyond popular forms, formal properties, ‘reading’ ‘writing’ avoiding intentional fallacies) • Beyond the literacies and ‘about-it is” • Professions, arts, crafts involve discipline(s)

  8. But No Cigar • Artur Rubinstein’s failure to practice • Rigid applications, no stretch, no flexibility (my favorite whipping boys—evolutionary psychology and economics ueber alles– rational choice)

  9. The Synthesizing Mind

  10. The Synthesizing Mind • Scads of information, especially on the web • Largely undigested and unevaluated • The synthesizing imperative • Good, bad, and “so-so” syntheses • Psychology (my discipline) has dropped the ball

  11. Towards Synthesis • Goal (your best guess of what the final synthesis will be like) • Starting point (including earlier syntheses) • Method, strategy (epistemic frames/forms,schemas, including narratives, taxonomies, equations, maps, metaphors, images, meta-narratives, embodiments); • First rough draft • Feedback of various thoughts • Your best synthesis, pro tem-just in time

  12. No Cigar • Procrustean efforts– Efforts that attempt to do too much—or are otherwise eccentric (e.g. the textbook that should be a doorstop)

  13. The Creating Mind

  14. The Creating Mind • Mastering one or more discipline-10 year rule • Synthesizing what is known • Going beyond the known– thinking outside the box, an imperative in the computer (algorithmic) age • Good questions, new questions • Robust, iconoclastic temperament • The ultimate judgment of ‘the field’

  15. No Cigar • Phlogiston • Ether • Cold Fusion • Most best-sellers • Most biennial art shows

  16. Two additional minds– The human sphere (beyond cognitive in usual sense)

  17. The Respectful Mind • Diversity as a fact of life, at home and abroad • Beyond mere tolerance • Need to understand others– perspectives, motivation– emotional and interpersonal intelligence • Not just students alone, or students and adults; also among parents, teachers, administrators—inappropriateness of ‘corporate, top-down model’ for schools and perhaps even for corporations

  18. No Cigar • Kiss up, kick down • Bad jokes • Mere tolerance • Respect with too many conditions

  19. Promising • Commissions on Peace and Reconciliation (more than two dozen countries) • Barenboim-Said Middle Eastern orchestra • Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project (intercultural penetration, transmission, syncretism)

  20. Two Instances where (rightly or wrongly?) I changed my own mind • Scarves in France • Cartoons in Denmark • What of the recent ruckus about Mozart’s Idomeneo? Or Jack Straw’s remarks about wearing veils in Britain?

  21. The Ethical Mind

  22. Ethical Mind • Higher level of abstraction than respectful mind • Conceptualizing oneself as a (good) worker • Conceptualizing oneself as a (good) citizen • Acting appropriately in both roles

  23. Ethical (Good) Work • Excellent, expert, high quality • Ethical, socially responsible, moral • Meaningful, exciting, intrinsically motivated

  24. The Summit of Good Work

  25. The Perils of Moral Freedom • Students know the “right thing to do” • Some do it • But too many deceive others and themselves—why should I be more ethical than my peers seem to be? • Is it enough to intend to use proper means in the future?

  26. No Cigar • Compromised Work --Demise of valued institutions in journalism, law, etc; Within education, letting the tests trump everything • Bad Work (Enron/Plagiarism); Within education, giving students the answers to the test

  27. Summary and closing thought… • From a wise New Englander

  28. “Character is more important than intellect” Ralph Waldo Emerson

  29. For more information • Howardgardner.com • Goodworkproject.org • Pzweb.harvard.edu • Or……

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