NEW THINKING

The basic software of human thinking is backward looking. We analyse the situation and seek to identify standard elements. Such elements arise from our previous experience. Then we provide the standard answer to the standard element. A child with a rash is brought into the surgery. The doctor has to make a diagnosis. From the signs, symptoms, history and tests, the doctor judges the condition to be measles. Once this standard illness is diagnosed then the probable cause of the illness is known, the possible complications are known and the standard treatment can be given. That is the basis for one hundred per cent of our education and ninety per cent of our thinking behaviour. The software of human thinking is based on information, analysis and judgement. This is excellent just as the front left wheel of a motorcar is excellent – but it is not enough. “New Thinking” includes the thinking that concerns the future. New thinking includes: Constructive thinking Creative thinking Design thinking Perceptual thinking You can seek the truth about the past but you cannot have truth about the future. At best you can have “possible value”. For the future, analysis is not enough – there is a need for design. Yet our whole culture of thinking is about analysis, truth, logic and argument. These are all about the past. New thinking is about the future. The quality of our future will depend directly on the quality of our thinking.