Some of the recent happenings made me think of the umpteen number of mental constraints that we develop as we grow up. Each of us are born with a free mind which if not trained in a particular fashion will be free to observe, interpret and understand things in its own unique way. But one of the achievements of modern day civilization is its ability to transfer the acquired knowledge in a compact way over the years to the new generation. This streamlines and speeds up the invention of newer ideas and systematically adds to the already existing knowledge base. But isn't this way of trying to bring a system in everything and riding the same boats on the well-defined streamlines actually in a way limiting our capabilities to think beyond what is beyond.
Almost 6-7 years of studying science and engineering introduces many models and categories of problems. When faced with any new problem, the first instinct is trying to fit the problem in an already defined model whose development for sure will be based on another chronologically older model. In many cases, it may solve the problem saving a lot of time and effort which would have otherwise been wasted (or invested?) trying to solve it from scratch! May be this problem fitted exactly in a category, but the emphasis on final solution rather than the process of getting it mars the innovation that could have resulted from a human mind trying to solve it in the absence of a framework. In fact in most of the cases, we end up complicating the procedure by ignoring the fundamentals and focusing on the methodology. And what about those problems which are new "new"?The constrained minds will end up forcing such problems into one of the pre-defined structure with the handy tool of assumptions or the problem will remain unsolved!
The habit of limiting the mind to conform to what is already known will be a foe in disguise to everything that involves thinking. The disguise becomes more obscure when things are less mathematical and a little abstract. The most striking example to me is the way relationships are always classified into some traditional definitions of brother, husband, friends or some more trendy ones like bfrnd-gfrnd, rakhi brother, committed, dating. Why do we so blatantly and confidently declare that every relationship should fall into one of these definitions?
Why is to so hard to conceive that there may be a possibility of something entirely new, different or unheard of? And those who are willing to accept the difference will turn neologistic and will eagerly be in line to discover a new expression for it. In our everyday thinking, we always look for frameworks and analogies to understand the vastness around us. Our aversion to independent thought process make us unreasonably trying to put a label or define a box around every situation. It may be satisfying as we will know exactly in which box do we stand at every instant. But it may not always be enough to be inside the box or for that matter even outside the box. At times one needs to know the exact coordinates.
Almost 6-7 years of studying science and engineering introduces many models and categories of problems. When faced with any new problem, the first instinct is trying to fit the problem in an already defined model whose development for sure will be based on another chronologically older model. In many cases, it may solve the problem saving a lot of time and effort which would have otherwise been wasted (or invested?) trying to solve it from scratch! May be this problem fitted exactly in a category, but the emphasis on final solution rather than the process of getting it mars the innovation that could have resulted from a human mind trying to solve it in the absence of a framework. In fact in most of the cases, we end up complicating the procedure by ignoring the fundamentals and focusing on the methodology. And what about those problems which are new "new"?The constrained minds will end up forcing such problems into one of the pre-defined structure with the handy tool of assumptions or the problem will remain unsolved!
The habit of limiting the mind to conform to what is already known will be a foe in disguise to everything that involves thinking. The disguise becomes more obscure when things are less mathematical and a little abstract. The most striking example to me is the way relationships are always classified into some traditional definitions of brother, husband, friends or some more trendy ones like bfrnd-gfrnd, rakhi brother, committed, dating. Why do we so blatantly and confidently declare that every relationship should fall into one of these definitions?
Why is to so hard to conceive that there may be a possibility of something entirely new, different or unheard of? And those who are willing to accept the difference will turn neologistic and will eagerly be in line to discover a new expression for it. In our everyday thinking, we always look for frameworks and analogies to understand the vastness around us. Our aversion to independent thought process make us unreasonably trying to put a label or define a box around every situation. It may be satisfying as we will know exactly in which box do we stand at every instant. But it may not always be enough to be inside the box or for that matter even outside the box. At times one needs to know the exact coordinates.
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