Is Pink in his right mind?

Daniel Pink’s book, “A Whole New Mind,” discusses how our society is changing to one where “right-brain” activity (art, creativity, design, humor, context, empathy) is becoming increasingly more important to our advancement and development. Whereas “left-brain” activity (dubbed L-thinking, including logic, language, sequence, details, etc) has been distinguished as the primary contributor to society’s advancement in the industrial and information ages, these specialized brain activities are decreasing in demand due to abundance of materials, outsourcing of labor to Asia, and the automation of computers that can replicate L-Directed thinking.

Pink declares that R-directed thinking will become the leading force in our next stage of civilization. Gone are soon the days of humans (or at least Americans) being needed for computer programming, medical diagnosis, or balancing accounting spreadsheets. As our natural social progression pushes labor to the east for lower wages, and replaces workers with computer software, our population must begin to hone its creative aptitude. Pink points to evidence that this process is already well underway. Design degrees are becoming as valuable as business degrees, and perhaps more. Many schools are looking for alternatives to standardized, high stakes testing in favor of developing creative assessment. Large corporations are turning their backs from their L-Directed thinking and are en route of “outside the box” thinkers to lead their futures.

Pink proposes that this transformation in society is already well underway, and those who are unwilling to adapt will endure a hard-hitting fate. He offers a number of suggestions for how we can compliment our L-Directed thinking with some essential R-Directed skills. These suggested proficiencies, which Pink terms “The Six Senses,” include:
• Design
• Story
• Symphony
• Empathy
• Play
• Meaning

Understanding these six senses and knowing how they will increasingly guide our lives and futures, is our only hope, as Pink would imply. In reading about the importance of design, I certainly felt a bit of redemption for choosing such a field to pursue as a degree of study and career. However, Pink discusses design as if it was a new concept, or somehow didn’t matter much in the past. While I saw a lot of value in everything he said about the importance of good design, I couldn’t get around the fact that I feel design has always been about both utility and significance.

Ultimately, I enjoyed reading the beginning of this book, although I think I have a problem with the disjointedness Pink suggests between Left and Right-Directed thinking. I don’t see a single action that any of us perform which doesn’t utilize both sides of our brain, and defining entire professions or people as one or the other doesn’t sit well with me. In a sense, I felt like I was reading some sort of Right-Brain propaganda, aimed at the liberation of the creative mind. But I believe that creative minds have always been the ones to move our civilization forward.