I just saw a video clip that blew my mind. Steve Roesler of All Things Workplace posted the clip and it did a wonderful job of illustrating the challenges of learning and working in the information age.
If you have 5 minutes take a look. You will not be disappointed. Seriously. And thanks for bringing this to our attention, Steve!
Just a disclaimer: I don’t know anything about the veracity of the information contained in the video clip… but it smells about right =)
Advertisement
No doubt that humans are great at adapting because history points that out time and time again. From the startling U-Tube video, it says to me that India’s intelligence and that of their children compared to ours, as well as the intelligent and industrious Chinese, are continuing “threats” to us if we don’t keep up the pace. This is what’s so “frightening” about that video if you ask me! It’s NOT frightening to India or China.
Now, more than ever in a crippled economy, it is extremely important that we keep up this pace with our international friends and enforce strong values of education to our children.
I remember talking to my Uncle Bob about the controversial Vietnam war because as it dragged on, with more and more of our soldiers dying, we were really worried about losing and people were terrified that the Vietnamese might take over the U.S. My Uncle Bob, who was stationed overseas in WWII, and someone I always thought was very smart, said something I would never forget. He said, “Nobody will ever take over the US – not even the Japanese. They could never take over this country by brute force, but they are smart enough to whack us in the knees economically.” Apparently, there’s more to war than bombs and bullets. Certainly the Japanese are not the reason we are in this current mess – not this time, but if we aren’t vigilent, this could happen to us up the road. I believe this started to happen with the Chinese, until they sold us poisonous pet food and tainted children’s toys and toothpaste last year. Did anybody notice that Americans stopped buying from them for only a few months which sent an alarming message causing pannick in China? Perhaps even worse is how our weak economy is affecting them now.
It may sound like I’m leading you in different direction of thought here. However, since we are becoming more and more global, we have to keep up the pace during these “exponential” times. Andy is right. We don’t have the luxury of time. Therefore, in my view we need to practice being good examples NOW to our children and demand hi-level and competitive education in order to secure their futures. – k:
Humans are great at adapting. We will learn how to handle grater amounts of data. More importantly, we will become better at determining what data matters and what data does not.
Great comment and article. The frightening thing is that we talk about reassessing, but until the equilibrium is off balance nothing will be done. Now, a hundred years ago that was fine because change was slower. Here we are now, living in the exponential era. Do we have the luxury of time?
I have no doubt that’s right on target. Time to reassess the situation and prepare our up and coming generations to the zenith of their potential.