Five Minds for the Future

Gardners introduction focuses on The Human Mind, the malleable parts of the mind.

He looks at the kind of mind that will be required to thrive in the eras to come

Drawing on his background in cognitive science and neuro-science, Gardner predicts and speculates on the state of society in the future and how our minds (should) develop if we are to cope and evolve with developing technology.

The different parts of the mind that are activated and high functioning, in order for a person to cope in the ‘future’ is discussed in five separate parts.

The disciplined mind; craft, scholarly discipline, profession. If the person doesn’t have at least one discipline he will “march to someone else’s tune”

The Synthesizing mind; ability to evaluate different information from many different sources.

The Creating Mind; the innovative mind. Puts forward new ideas, unfamiliar questions…

The Respectful Mind; compassion, attempts to understand and work with others. Kindness and tolerance. Efficiency.

The ethical Mind; thinks of the larger society, people as a whole.

This introduction emphasizes the need for people to band together, that in order to survive we have to protect the poor and underprivileged. There cannot be such a divide in rich and poor if we are to evolve effectively into the future.

Gardner asserts that it takes around 10 years to perfect a discipline and one needs to be continuously honing his craft and the skills it requires. He includes management and leadership as a discipline, that these skills are not something you automatically possess as a result of a job title. The leadership and management role takes years to cultivate and attention to detail is required in order to hone in on specific skills of these attributes.

These changes, he regards as crucial development for people in the future. The level of thinking required and demanded of this so called ‘New World’ and what the demands are going to be for us as a society.