So What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 11:55:00 -0400

This past weekend, I went and saw Iron Maiden in Toronto. I like a lot of different kinds of music, but there’s just something special about Maiden. They’re the Rolling Stones of metal…they’ve been around forever.

As I’m watching them, I get thinking about Steve Harris, the band’s bass player and founder. He started the band back in 1975 when he was just 19 years old. Who would have thought that 35 years later, he’d have such huge musical success…all because of decisions he made so many years earlier. Fascinating.

Then I got reading about the band’s lead singer, Bruce Dickinson, who is a polymath. “Polymath? What the heck is that?” I wondered. Must be a medical condition or something. Turns out, a polymath is someone who has great skill and knowledge in a variety of fields — what we today would call a Renaissance Man, or someone who is “worldly.”

Further research into this revealed some interesting information; and lead to some thought provoking ideas…
It was common during the Italian Renaissance for average people to have a wealth of knowledge in a variety of areas. To be considered a gentleman, for example, one would need to be well spoken, write poetry, engage in the sciences, play an instrument, and paint. Leonardo Da Vinci is the quintessential example of this. Another example is Leon Battista Alberti, a Roman Catholic priest, who was also a skilled painter, scientist, mathematician, architect, poet, and inventor; and also a skilled archer and horseman. That would have been an amazing time to be alive. I think the sheer volume of creativity and philosophy that poured out of the era is a testament to the time’s ideals.

Yet we live in a very different world today, don’t we? A lot of people I know have a single means of income (a job), buy a lot of consumer shit, watch American Idol, and form strong opinions about current events from 30-second news clips. That’s it. That’s about the depth of their character. Those who have a huge array of interests and skills are said to be aimless, lacking focus, lost, or degenerates. “Masters of none,” as the saying goes. Rather than encourage a rich array of interests, we’re taught to be specialized.

I personally have struggled with this for years. A defining moment in my life was with my high school guidance councillor. “Alright Blake, college or university? What will you go to school for?” I replied, “Drums, music, art, history, economics…” He shook his head in disgust and replied, “You can’t do that.” It took me years to get over that brief conversation. Some guidance, councillor.

To satisfy him, maybe I should have said, “parts-stamper at GM,” “hydro linesman,” or “guidance councillor.”

See, our school systems, our economy, and the entire Western world at large has been built upon the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution says, “Specialize! Be a parts-fitter, a cog, a machine!” It’s like, “Critical thought is treason!” Meanwhile, my heart says, “Music, art, philosophy, science!” This notion of doing one thing for your entire life has permeated everyone’s lives. In social settings we ask people, “What do you do?” We ask our children, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” We ask our young adults, “What will you be going to school for?”

How limiting.

We’ve been trained (and we’re training our children) to survive in a world that no longer exists. This form of education and specialization may have served my parents and grandparents well, but it no longer applies. Upon graduation, my kids will be ready to rock the hell out of the 1950’s…even though they’ll graduate in the 2020’s.

The Industrial Revolution is over, and for the longest time, I thought I was unfocused and lacking in direction. But now I realize that having a lot of interests, and pursuing those interests is a wonderful thing. The problem isn’t having a lot of interests; the problem is that society cannot keep up, let alone prepare us for the world that’s rapidly approaching. How can the school system prepare kids for 2015, 2020, and beyond when they’re stuck in the 1950’s? I’d suggest they get the hell on it!

Many of the teachers I’ve met don’t even know how to send a god damned email…and you’re gonna prepare my kids for the future? I don’t want to hack too hard on teachers, many of them do an amazing job. But the world’s changing, and as one who “teaches” you’ve gotta adapt.

Now, my generation (the children of the Baby-boomers) is an exciting place to be. The world my parents grew up in and knew is gone. The world my children will know is quickly arriving. But we, the members of this generation (Gen X or whatever) are sitting on the dividing line, the fence that divides the Old World from the New World. I am like a refugee from the Old World, arriving in this strange, unfamiliar, and fascinating new place.

As members of this generation, we have the power of choice. I can choose to live in my parent’s obsolete world — a world that I remember all too well — moaning and griping and wishing for things to be as they once were, or I can embrace this strange and wonderful New World that my children will call home. My children will never know my parent’s world. They’ll have grown up not knowing a world without computer technology, the internet, mobile devices, interconnectivity, and so on.

I could go on and on, philosophizing left and right, but here’s the beef: It boils down to having the courage to pursue that which burns within you, whatever that might be. To turn off your obsolete programming from the Old World and to realize that everything you’ve been taught is wrong. Understand that the Old World is gone forever. Take on a sort of “Adapt or Die” attitude.

In addition to pursuing our varied interests and endeavours, the New World of the 21st century requires us to be technically adept. In addition to being artists, writers, musicians, scientists, and philosophers, we must also be bloggers, social media networkers, critical thinkers, and mobile device carrying participants of a newer, faster world where readily available and easy-to-use technologies allow us to share our works, our creativity, and our philosophies. Never before has it been easier to become skilled in all the areas that are of interest to you; even to make a living with these endeavours. The hardest part is rooting out and deleting that corrosive data that we have in our heads; beliefs and values and data from a world dead and gone.

We are the techno-creatives, an anointed generation burdened with the responsibility of choosing which world we want to be a part of. We are proto-participants, arriving on the shores of a brave new world.

More info:
Polymath Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymath
Linchpin, by Seth Godin (http://www.amazon.com/Linchpin-Are-Indispensable-Seth-Godin/dp/1591843162/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278516667&sr=1-1-spell)
The Element, by Sir Ken Robinson (http://www.amazon.com/Element-Finding-Passion-Changes-Everything/dp/0143116738/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278516619&sr=8-2)

First Post Evaah!

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:16:00 -0400

Well here it is, the new Zap! Bang! Boom! blog. Over the past few years, Zap! has gone through a few different incarnations, and in trying to figure out what the heck I was going to do with it, I decided to make it the home of my own personal blog…A place where I can share my musings, thoughts, and opinions on a variety of topics.

So in the weeks and months ahead, I’m looking forward to talking about all sorts of different things…technology, mythology, self-education, science fiction, and more. I have a huge array of interests, so it looks like this is gonna be the place that’ll serve as the dumping ground!

As for the visual design of the blog, I intentionally kept it pretty skimpy. Interface design has a way of spiraling out of control and consuming hours of work. Instead, I’ll be focusing more on content here rather than on a killer design interface. Sound cool?

Enjoy!!