By Anirudh Kashi
The future in the hands of the right brain
“I am the right brain. I am creativity. A free spirit. I am passion. Yearning. Sensuality. I am the sound of roaming laughter. I am taste. The feeling of sand beneath bare feet. I am movement. Vivid colours. I am the urge to paint on an empty canvas. I am boundless imagination. Art. Poetry. I sense. I feel. I am everything I wanted to be.”
-Mercedes-Benz advertisement.
If the human race can be divided into three era of development, then the first could the stage where physical strength was respected above all. It was the time when hunting and agricultural work had a prominent existence. Then came the knowledge era, with the industrial revolution followed by the scientific revolution when human race began to understand that intelligence was more essential than mere physical strength. However it is a long drawn misconception by the western thought that people with a prominent left brain style of intelligence are more productive and thus crucial for the evolution of the human race. If you thought that the future will be ruled by robots and technology, then consider the fact that as scientific revolution is succeeded by a cultural one.
It is a well-known fact that the human brain can be divided into two hemispheres, the left part dealing with logical aspects, it is linear and works with numbers. It can be compared to a computer. However the present day computers have much more superior command over numbers than any human left brain. If the left brain was all that made us humans then we have been surpassed! The right brain is creative, emphatic and artistic. That is the difference between humans and highly advanced machines powered by artificial-intelligence.
Pre-industrial revolution, all productive work was done by man himself with the help of some animals. Post-industrial revolution, machines slowly began to replace human workforce. Some whole factories were mechanized and with half the human help, the produce was doubled. Now man had to find other work, his brain, the left part came into the act. The world had more engineers, accountants, lawyers and doctors than it had seen before. With the invention the computer in the late 20th century, some more of human burden was reduced. The computers helped make complex calculation and could keep a track of accounts, much more efficiently than humans. With the systematization of the law and medical field, solutions to some problems can now be found on the internet by anyone.
Today due to the large scale industrial development, companies are able to produce anything they want, but they have no idea as to what to produce. If the creative brain is not nurtured, the inventiveness of humans will cease to exist. To say that all inventive ideas originated in the right brain of the inventor is true, but that was not enough he had to use his left brain to analyse the rather abstract idea and logical plan how to build it. It is said that Einstein would close his eyes and play the violin, thus turning off his left brain and letting the right brain solve the problem at hand. Once he got a solution he would turn on the left brain and analyse it and work it out. He was a master whole brain user.
Take a look at present day India, where every student is expected to become a doctor or engineer. What of the other ways of leading a life? A life: as a writer, as a painter, as sportsperson or an actor. Even though engineers don’t get jobs so easily these days, people still hang on to the mob mentality. I am not telling that we don’t need engineers, but why would you force yourself just because you will be on the main stream. Dare to look beyond, dare to take the alternate path, dare to “take the road less travelled.
What we need today is not a technician who works by the book, but a thinker, an inventor and an entrepreneur. If everybody were to become engineers and doctors, then who run businesses, who will start companies and who will fill our hearts with music and dance? As humans it is essential to seek happiness, and if you thought you would become an engineer and get a job and be happy, and if you can die without regrets then go ahead. If it doesn’t follow your heart and do what you want to do in life. Unleash your right brain abilities and be sure that you don’t get left out, for “right brainers will rule the future.”
