Future Minds: How the Digital Age Is Changing Our Minds, Why This Matters, and What We Can Do About It
We are on the cusp of a revolution. Mobile phones, computers and iPods are commonplace in hundreds of millions of households worldwide, influencing how we think and shaping how we interact. In the future, smart machines will compete with clever people for employment and even human affection. We are shifting to a world where knowledge will be automated and people will be rewarded instead as conceptual and creative thinkers. Hence being able to think and act in ways that machines cannot will become vital. Ideas are the currency of this new economy and curiosity and imagination are among the key raw materials. But what happens to the rigour of our thinking in a world where we never really sit still or completely switch off? What are some of the unexpected consequences of digital information on the 100 billion cells and quadrillion connections inside our brains? Future Minds illustrates how to maximise the potential of digital technology and minimise its greatest downside, addressing the future of thinking and how we can ensure that we unleash the extraordinary potential of the human mind. In this absorbing new book, discover all about: the sex life of ideas; the rise of the screenager; generations, gender and geography; delving deep inside your head; how to clear a blocked brain; why clever people make dumb mistakes; why we are so afraid of doing nothing; what we can do to reclaim our brains.
1100409354
Future Minds: How the Digital Age Is Changing Our Minds, Why This Matters, and What We Can Do About It
We are on the cusp of a revolution. Mobile phones, computers and iPods are commonplace in hundreds of millions of households worldwide, influencing how we think and shaping how we interact. In the future, smart machines will compete with clever people for employment and even human affection. We are shifting to a world where knowledge will be automated and people will be rewarded instead as conceptual and creative thinkers. Hence being able to think and act in ways that machines cannot will become vital. Ideas are the currency of this new economy and curiosity and imagination are among the key raw materials. But what happens to the rigour of our thinking in a world where we never really sit still or completely switch off? What are some of the unexpected consequences of digital information on the 100 billion cells and quadrillion connections inside our brains? Future Minds illustrates how to maximise the potential of digital technology and minimise its greatest downside, addressing the future of thinking and how we can ensure that we unleash the extraordinary potential of the human mind. In this absorbing new book, discover all about: the sex life of ideas; the rise of the screenager; generations, gender and geography; delving deep inside your head; how to clear a blocked brain; why clever people make dumb mistakes; why we are so afraid of doing nothing; what we can do to reclaim our brains.
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Future Minds: How the Digital Age Is Changing Our Minds, Why This Matters, and What We Can Do About It

Future Minds: How the Digital Age Is Changing Our Minds, Why This Matters, and What We Can Do About It

by Richard Watson
Future Minds: How the Digital Age Is Changing Our Minds, Why This Matters, and What We Can Do About It

Future Minds: How the Digital Age Is Changing Our Minds, Why This Matters, and What We Can Do About It

by Richard Watson

eBookDigital original (Digital original)

$12.99 

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Overview

We are on the cusp of a revolution. Mobile phones, computers and iPods are commonplace in hundreds of millions of households worldwide, influencing how we think and shaping how we interact. In the future, smart machines will compete with clever people for employment and even human affection. We are shifting to a world where knowledge will be automated and people will be rewarded instead as conceptual and creative thinkers. Hence being able to think and act in ways that machines cannot will become vital. Ideas are the currency of this new economy and curiosity and imagination are among the key raw materials. But what happens to the rigour of our thinking in a world where we never really sit still or completely switch off? What are some of the unexpected consequences of digital information on the 100 billion cells and quadrillion connections inside our brains? Future Minds illustrates how to maximise the potential of digital technology and minimise its greatest downside, addressing the future of thinking and how we can ensure that we unleash the extraordinary potential of the human mind. In this absorbing new book, discover all about: the sex life of ideas; the rise of the screenager; generations, gender and geography; delving deep inside your head; how to clear a blocked brain; why clever people make dumb mistakes; why we are so afraid of doing nothing; what we can do to reclaim our brains.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781473644663
Publisher: Quercus
Publication date: 11/26/2010
Sold by: Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format: eBook
Pages: 228
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

British writer Richard Watson advises organisations on the future, focusing on innovation and scenario planning. He is the author and publisher of What's Next, a quarterly report on global trends and writes about trends for a number of people and publications including Fast Company. His clients have included IBM, Virgin, Toyota, McDonald's, Tesco, News Limited, Westfield, Unilever, Coca-Cola and the Department of Education. A regular visitor to the UK, he maintains a website and blog at http://toptrends.nowandnext.com and is Chief Futurist at the Future Exploration Network , and a member of Futures House.

Table of Contents

Overture: Screen Culture 1

Part 1 How The Digital Era Is Changing Our Minds 9

1 The Rise of the Screenager 11

10 ways screenagers are thinking differently 12

They want it and they want it now 12

Connectivity addiction 16

Multitasking mayhem 20

The screenage brain 21

Are IQ tests making kids stupid? 25

2 Pre-Teens: An Apple for Every Teacher 28

Not enough thinking inside the sand box 30

A cut-and-paste education 34

Why books still matter 36

We need more childlike thinking 39

Dare to dream 42

10 ways our education system could stimulate young minds 44

Part 2 Why This Matters 45

3 Thinking About Thinking 47

10ways our minds are different to our machines 49

Computers are stupid 50

A good idea? 52

Thinking ahead 53

Do we own our own thinking? 56

Out of sight but(perhaps)not out of mind 60

4 The Sex Life of Ideas 63

Where do ideas come from, daddy? 63

Mental impasses and gridlocks 66

Being unconventional 68

Quantity is quality 69

Two brains are better than one 71

Why clever people make dumb mistakes 74

Why we need to take our ideas to bed 77

Daydream believer 79

Music on the brain 80

Distributed intelligence 82

Celebrate serendipity 84

10 ways to breed ideas 87

5 Thinking Spaces 88

Where do people do their deepest thinking? 89

10 of my favorite ways to create deep thinking spaces 97

Why we don'think at work 98

Natural thinking spaces 99

An innocent question 100

Gardening as a metaphor for business 102

Deliberately designed work spaces 104

I think therefore iPod 109

Cathedrals for ideas 111

Organized chaos 114

Paperless offices 117

You don't need to work here to work here 119

Telepresence and other warped ideas 120

The business of busyness 122

Domestic thinking spaces 124

Third places 126

Change your routine 128

10 ways in which objects and environments deepen our thinking 130

Part 3 What We Can Do About It 131

6 How to Clear a Blocked Brain 133

Create time and space 134

Become intellectually promiscuous 138

Keep an ideas diary 140

Retain an open mind 141

Use the bathroom 145

Be patient 147

The benefits of boredom 148

Lose your inhibitions 152

Embrace failure 153

Share the problem 155

Don't go to work 158

7 Future Minds 160

Control-Alt-Delete 160

Reclaiming the time and space to think 163

Not so easy 165

From small beginnings 167

A Taste of Future Minds: 10 Predictions 170

Notes 173

Bibliography 183

A few interesting websites 195

The soundtrack to the book 197

Acknowledgments 199

Index 200

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