October 17, 2008 class meeting

On our October 17, 2008 class meeting, we discussed Daniel Pink’s idea of outsourcing. One of the critiques of Pink’s ideas includes his assumption that only left-brain knowledge can be outsourced, as right-brain knowledge (once we begin to value it) remains in the U.S. According to one classmate, this assumption is base on the fact that left-brain knowledge is easier to outsource than right-brain knowledge since the latter is harder to transport; right-brain skills, such as creativity, can only be developed in a person rather than through automation. I might be wrong, but I think that the author might have some validity to the notion that right-brain knowledge would stay in the U.S. quite some time due to the reason mentioned above, and that it takes quite awhile for a society to transition from one type of economy to another type.

One of the criticisms from my classmates was that the book placed high emphasis on the author’s values rather than providing us with a more practical understanding on the importance of our left-brain, and equanimously, the right-brain. This culture has only begun to value the right-brain because of our excess in commodities.

Near the end of the class, a few students discussed the ways in which schools have begun to incorporate right brain activities into the teaching, and the social/economic/political factors associated with this development.

At the end, we listened to several presentations, including Podcasting/iTunes, Second Life, Mobile Technology.