ARE WE EVEN ASKING RIGHT QUESTIONS?

ARE WE EVEN ASKING RIGHT QUESTIONS????

            Some time back I wrote an article about whether or not the Internet is killing our creativity. For those who had not read it here is the link https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/internet-killing-creativity-vivek-kamthan/. Subsequent to that I was having open discussion with some of the young minds. We discussed and then we discussed some more. In the following paragraphs I shall try to pen down why the creativity is no more evident.

            From the time immemorial, the key to open the vast treasure of knowledge is inquisitiveness or raising queries or just asking questions. Almost all of the discoveries by mankind are done either in the pursuit of knowledge or in search of some solution to a critical problem. But always the humans had embarked on the path of discovery by asking pertinent questions. Can you imagine had Sir Isaac Newton not asked why the apple fell towards earth instead of going up or had Sir Alexander Flaming not wondered about the strange mold in his experiment, what would be the face of modern physics or medical science?

(Interesting fact about discovery of Penicillin/////// In 1928, Scottish bacteriologist Sir Alexander Fleming left a petri dish filled with the Staphylococcus aureus bacterium uncovered for several days. Upon returning, Fleming found the dish to be contaminated with mold. He was about to throw away the culture when he noticed the mold appeared to be dissolving the bacteria away.

Upon further testing, Fleming discovered that it was actually something in the mold that stopped the growth of bacteria. However, it wasn’t until 1935 that two researchers from Oxford University would separate and purify the penicillin from the mold. This opened the door to a variety of antibiotics and has saved millions of lives from dangerous infections. Courtesy https://www.medicaldaily.com/penicillin-viagra-4-amazing-medical-discoveries-found-accident-280958).

            The point I am bringing forth here is; that for every discovery or for every solution, the raising of correct and relevant queries or asking questions is probably one of the most important facet if not the single most important. After observing any problem or pain point; if we don’t ask questions, we won’t be taking even a single step towards the solution. We won’t be solving any problems nor we be gaining any knowledge.

            Humans are genetically inquisitive by nature. We have always learned and progressed by wondering, observing, questioning and experimenting. In the nutshell these are the basis of entire treasure trove of human knowledge and discovery. So then; what went wrong? In the pursuit of modernization where did we leave our virtues? Frankly speaking if we leave some one alone to his methods and devices, he will start wondering about one and many. The problem comes when his mind is cluttered and not clear enough to even comprehend what is that which he is facing?

            Two things come to my mind when I think about this……

Firstly,            the Modern Education System….. which is not giving birth to thinkers but the walking, talking, coding, earning Zombies…? And never a great discovery had been made by such minds. I don’t want to go into much detail about the lacunae of this system which focuses more on making the young energetic minds a great worker to earn a good livelihood rather than focusing on creativity and inquisitiveness. This, according to me, is a sure shot recipe for disaster for a race. (Many articles are available on this controversial topic, the readers can go through them if feel like. But I warn them; most in favour are written by the people who gain to benefit).

Secondly, the spoon feeding….. Be it by parents, teachers, coaches or the internet.

The boon of technology, the easy and deep penetration of internet has made sure that the young minds are not even given a little chance to struggle to think about the problem. The moment u feel a need, just open the net and voila!!!! here comes the answer and there goes the curiousness. Now-a-days, Google has also started telling you which questions to ask. The moment you start typing a topic; Google throws out many related questions on that topic even before you have finished typing. You can now choose and pick what you want to know. Basically the young minds are slowly getting trained by the machine, the AI about how to ask the questions even. As I had mentioned earlier if valid and pertinent questions are not asked; how will the new discoveries be made? The Google questions are pre-programmed and with the advent of AI, now programmed upon the basic behavior of the user. So slowly it will program the thinking of a mind and will start directing the free will in which direction to think and ask questions. That will be a dangerous situation and in my opinion the day is not far. I had interacted with kids in class7/8 who don’t know any other way to do homework other than Google if the questions are not directly asked from the text written in the book. I mean whatever had happened to the analytical and application part of it. The situation is not a pleasant one and I hope to be wrong as I don’t want to see such a thing happening in my lifetime at least.

(All are Welcome to post comments)

IS INTERNET KILLING CREATIVITY

    I tasked a YO (young officer) to prepare a presentation for 10-15 minutes on any subject of his choice and told him that he will be speaking in front of at least 70-80 officers including some of the very senior ones. I also advised him that it would be a perfect way to showcase him in front of all and to leave a positive impression. The time available to him was approximately 2 and 1/2 weeks. 

      Over next two days he selected some topics and bounced back with me and then finally selected one and started preparing.

      Before the final day he called on to me for a dress rehearsal and for possible suggestions for improvements.

      I sat through the full 15m of his presentations (slides and write up) and though I made some points for improvements but nothing drastic. The topic was also of common interest.

      Finally, the D-day arrived....... In the full auditorium he spoke well the slides were also good, the topic was interesting but I could gauge the disconnect with the audience. In fact he could not hold his audience attention after first couple of minutes which surprised me. 

      My worst fears were confirmed when my immediate boss while walking out the auditorium looked deeply in my eyes, held the glaze and shrugged his shoulders. He, an accomplished speaker himself, was not at all impressed by his efforts and worst with his non-verbal communication he was telling me he wasn’t impressed by my efforts as well..... So what went wrong???? I mean I thought it was an OK talk. So why no one else was interested let alone impressed???

     I realised after introspection that I did the mistake of getting involved from the beginning itself and was equal partner in selecting the topic and reading the script along with the actual act of practicing the talk. In nutshell probably I fell into the ownership of presentation itself and thought that everyone else will also think like me and would love the talk. However, the opposite happen. Post talk, when I sat calmly and did the autopsy of the entire episode few pertinent points came out:-

1.       The topic was chosen from the internet.

2.       The officer chose the topic from the available presentations on the internet and then decided to prepare it rather than choosing the topic from the subject which interests him.

3.       He then searched the material available from the net and merged into one presentation rather than building a script (write up) first then making the power point presentation.

4.       As he found out the ready-made material he didn’t put in efforts in writing himself so the language used was not his and was almost foreign to him. Though he tried to remember the things which he was about to talk but those were not coming from his heart. I mean he wasn’t able to convince anyone including himself about the topic.

5.       Public speaking is all about selling oneself, I mean selling your ideas. Its equivalent to making a sales pitch. How can you sell a product to anyone when you are not convinced yourself?

Now I need to put up some question which I want readers to mull over and leave comments if they wish:-

1.       Is internet making us lethargic? Is it making us shirkers? I mean if it is not there then the officer has to do the hard work of researching the topic give some serious thoughts and then prepare the script before preparing the presentation.

2.       Is internet killing the creativity? What I mean....If the internet is not there would we be more creative? And by this I mean not the artistic people but the common people like the presenter in this article.

3.       In today’s world of easy availability of semi-knocked-down-units; on internet in terms of literature; are we creating run of the mill material?