Pop the Culture
There is more than one way to look at a thing
I am currently reading Albert Einsteins biography. In it I see the story of this extraordinary man who had a natural disdain for authority and a penchant for challenging preexisting ideas and accepted beliefs. I see how these traits, especially his ability to visualize things creatively in his mind, especially through his famous “thought experiments”, led him to the discovery and formulation of his most famous idea: The theory of relativity, turned physics upside down and shattered our prior understanding of the universe and how we relate to it, among others.
Albert Einstein was a dope guy.
Other popular innovators and icons are known for their ability to think in this same way, albeit in different forms. This ability to look at a problem or idea or opinion or piece of information from different angles and perspectives from the original one it was presented in, is a most important skill that is valued in this light-speed innovation age.
Due to things like globalization, and that at the breakneck speed of technology, we come in contact with a lot of new ideas, opinions, lifestyles and it is easy to adopt a rigid mindset that resists change because we are afraid of what these things would mean for us and the lives we live.
It is a dangerous thing to have a closed mind in such an open world.
Conversely we live in a trending society where the society and its culture dictates trends and the people are carried along by the strong currents even if it is against our own natural inclinations. So, we have a society of people who have been told what to think and what opinions to have; who refuse to open their minds to see things from all the other perspectives in order to have a clearer picture of the world.
The story is told about some blind men who are told to touch an elephant and describe what the elephant is like. Each blind man touches a different part of the elephant; one touches the long slender tail, another the broad torso while yet another runs his hand along the smooth surface of the ivory tusk. When they get to describing the elephant to each other a conflict arises because each blind man sees the elephant as the way he has felt it. And so the one who felt the tusk insists that the elephant is a smooth, stiff and strong animal while the one that felt the hairy tail insists that it is long slender and hairy and so on.
Each person on earth is a blind man; no one has the complete picture and it is only by considering (and accepting, where the views are verified as correct) the views of others that we have a better view of the world as a whole.
Don’t just accept what society tells you, ask questions, ponder, do your own research, have conversations and debates and build your own opinions.
Be a dope human. Like Einstein.
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Today we introduce Pop the Culture, a podcast where we look at ideas, events and people in popular culture from different (and hopefully interesting) perspectives. We ask and sometimes answer questions you may never have thought about. We are basically connoisseurs of food for thought. We hope you like it. Listen to the first episode below.
You can also listen to the podcast on Soundcloud.
