The journey of a challenge: searching for the “right words” in a complex world
“An image worth a thousand words”. That’s what we often hear, but sometimes –rarely, actually-, a few words may ‘worth a thousand images’.
Talking is not the same as communicating effectively. Frequently, it is rather the opposite; the more we talk, the more blurred the message we are trying to transmit becomes. At least, that’s one of the main insights I have, after several attempts to clearly articulate one idea that might humbly contribute to shape the future of our cities, in a complex world.
In September 2017, Professor Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum invited Global Shapers around the world to participate in the Shaping My City’s Future Challenge. For the hub of Medellin, Colombia, this was not just a challenge, it was an opportunity to hear different opinions of diverse stakeholders around how are we prepared for an uncertain and complex future.
Unexpectedly, for me, this also became an opportunity to not just offer alternative ideas and work for them with outstanding people locally and globally, but after a while, this led me to the need of a new way of thinking.
Thinking about thinking
“You can’t think about thinking without thinking about thinking about something.”, used to say Seymour Papert, an influential thinker of this century that I knew about in the Internet just a few years ago. I hear about his name, because his deep thoughts have shaped places, people, research and behaviors of people I admire like the MIT Media Lab and many of its founders, and current researchers. Nevertheless, knowing about someone is not the same as understanding enough the depth of his thinking (or anyone’s thinking).
Today we all have the potential of being students of inspiring people we don’t physically meet, we have the priceless opportunity of being lifelong learners, the chance of learning different ways of thinking.
“That’s the advice I give to students, but they don’t listen much: if you are talking to someone like Feynman (one of the most influential physicists) or Gleason (an influential distinguished mathematician), and they say something, what students do is they take notes and write it down, and they try to remember what they said, but you should say is ‘how did he think on that’, and then go and ask him”, said Marvin Minsky in an interview years go; he is considered father of AI, and worked closely to Papert and with some of the greatest minds of recent years.
Unfortunately, we can’t always “go and ask him” (both Marvin Minsky and Seymour Papert passed away in 2016, and we often lose great minds without giving them the value they deserve on time). Nevertheless, wondering about thinking can be insightful as well, and with the amount of information available nowadays, both online and offline, it may even be the source of powerful ideas, or at least a way of enjoying the journey of looking for these powerful ideas.
One paradox of complexity: the need of simplicity
Finding meaningful insights or powerful ideas isn’t something we may easily plan. I can’t say I know the answer of how to find sources of wisdom or inputs for designing life-changing things or services; what I can say is that I constantly try to get out of my comfort-zone, and from this I have found how priceless is to embrace complexity.
I’m an active participant in different global communities, and initiatives that have given me the opportunity not just of learning-by-doing, but to contribute to activities, and experiences that have the potential of contributing to a better future for people in different places. Nevertheless, it is increasingly hard for me to describe what do on a daily basis, just as it has been to define a “solution”.
In this process, and the reflections about it, I have realized that what happens to me, individually, happens often to the most ambitious initiatives that can be powerful enough to shape the future of cities, and the world. The paradox: the more complex the challenge, the simpler might seem the most promising initiatives … but it is not any kind of simplicity!
“Things should be as simple as possible, but not simpler”, said Albert Einstein.
In the complex world we live in, where each challenge has many ‘building blocks’ with countless diverse interconnections among them, the best “solutions” must be simple and clear. At the same time, solutions should be flexible enough, and powerful enough to constantly adapt and enable the creation of new connections, and possibilities with an increasing number of ‘building blocks’ as well.
Among others, today we see some valuable fellowship programs open for exploration, open global communities with diverse hubs, different kind of labs, MOOCs and online courses that allows participants to connect to each other in different ways giving birth to new possibilities, movies and media connected to social causes… Thinking on this as ongoing “experiments” (and looking at all of these initiatives as new “systems”) have given me valuable insights for the kind of solutions we might need for the present, and for the future, taking into account not just the possibilities, but the new scenarios that arise in these initiatives when we think on their full potential to solve complex challenges, collectively.
Searching in the ‘white spaces’
Why do we need a new way of thinking or a thinking about thinking? Well, the challenges of the 21st Century are different to what we experienced before, and we still don’t know how to solve them. Answers from one person, even answers from a single academic discipline are found to be incomplete.
This adds another layer to the complexity of the present, while academic disciplines and society tries to divide, and hyper-specialize, we need to connect, and explore not just in what exists, but in the ‘white-spaces’ between what we have created for centuries.
The language we talk in different countries, the specialized language of academic disciplines, the different programming languages, the results of research, the environments we are in… everything is leaving ‘white spaces’ to be explored.
I became aware of this a few years ago, when I started having difficulties expressing some ideas, and when I realized that people struggled with this often. By the time I started finding people talking and doing research about this, I also found a new approach to my lifelong learning journey: “antidisciplinary”.
“Interdisciplinary work is when people from different disciplines work together. An antidisciplinary project isn’t a sum of a bunch of disciplines but something entirely new — the word defies easy definition. But what it means to me is someone or something that doesn’t fit within traditional academic discipline-a field of study with its own particular words, frameworks, and methods.”, says Joi Ito, director of the MIT Media Lab, where their research is focused on these ‘white spaces’.
The need of being creative thinkers
While my reflection gets longer, and perhaps gets complicated with what some researchers called ‘adult sophistication’, children teach us of the kind of learning we need today, and might give us insights of how to thrive in the 21st Century. Since the birth, and in kindergarten they creatively learn.
“Creative thinking has always been, and will always be, a central part of what makes life worth living. Life as a creative thinker can bring not only economic rewards, but also joy, fulfillment, purpose, and meaning. Children deserve nothing less.”, says Mitch Resnick, mentee of Seymour Papert and director of the Lifelong Kindergarten group of the MIT Media Lab.
Resnick says “children deserve nothing less”; actually, the promise -and the challenge- of this century, and the 4th Industrial revolution is to achieve this for all humanity (including the people unborn): bring not only economic rewards, but also joy, fulfillment, purpose, and meaning.
The journey ahead: creative + antidisciplinary
In Global Shapers Medellin we have found joy, purpose, fulfillment, and meaning in constantly looking for a greater impact, by helping others (including helping others creating a positive impact around them as well). We don’t always find an economic reward, and most of the people we help haven’t found economic rewards either, but it is definitely rewarding, and priceless.
After years of pro-bono voluntary work in different communities, and contexts, I have learned one thing: the more you give, the more you get.
Our future is uncertain, and complex. I still don’t have the “right words” I have been looking for. Nevertheless, the journey itself has been my key insight for a valuable journey ahead, a journey were together we can constantly build and develop the necessary skills to thrive in the 21st century, a lifelong-learning journey where we can be creative, antidisciplinary, and find joy, meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in constantly collaborating, and humbly contributing to a better future for all.
