Story

The second area Pink discusses in A Whole New Mind is Story, a trait I believe we have all had since birth. Teachers of young children and parents know that story is how children make sense of their world. Today that story sharing has moved to a new means, the web.

In the future, will these children look back at historical web files to remember their history, or will they have some other technology we have yet to imagine that collects their stories? When I visit my grandmother, I try to remember her stories to pass on to my children. What will my children do with these stories? StoryCorps archives, for instance, will help carry some of these stories into the future. And just like history that is taught in schools, story can teach us not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

As for big business and the medical profession sharing their stories, it only makes sense that they can learn from each other, as we are stronger when we share collective knowledge than when we go it alone. This I also believe teachers have been aware of for years, why else would we form groups to support students in need and discuss ways to solve problems in our schools.

Sites like YouTube give us more places to share our stories or our constructed knowledge and as the technological savvy youth of today expand their ideas, pushing the envelop as all new generations do, I predict we will see changes in how and what we see on television and in films. As consumers of knowledge have more choices for learning than ever, television channels like Discovery, The Learning Channel, and HGTV help us to chose the stories we want to add to our own. Ted.com pushes our thinking and gives us those connections that make for ah-ha moments.

So what stories do you want to share? What stories do you want to live?