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)