Can you create a brand new imaginary creature in your mind?
Do you think you are creative? If yes, why don’t you think out an imaginary creature which is completely different from existing ones in this world? I think it’s very difficult. For example, a unicorn looks like a subspecies of horse; a dragon is just a big lizard with wings; a bigfoot is just a gorilla. Even the characters of “Monsters, Inc.” are within our limited imagination. You see? These examples are imaginary but not so creative creatures. I think this question well expresses the bounds of human imagination. It’s very difficult or almost impossible for us even to imagine something we’ve never known or seen.
Most people may believe we can see or learn about things we don’t know more easily on the internet. but is it really the case? Do you think the Internet is really useful to expand our knowledge and interests? Today’s topic is a trap we’re likely to encounter in this information overload era.
Echo chamber enhanced by the Internet
When I was a college student, it always took time to write essays because I had to struggle with many books for evidence. Now, Google can make surveillance more quickly and accurately. It’s definitely true we can easily get much more information on the internet, but here is a trap we need to watch out. The range of information we access to gets narrower because we can’t imagine information we’ve never known; nor search for such information even on the internet. Making matters worse, the internet only provides information related to our interest. On the contrary, in the newspaper for example, we can access to news we don’t know from headings laid out around the article we want to read. Even if you’re not interested in economic news outside your country, some articles catch your eyes when you read financial pages.
Let’s broaden our horizon
The internet broadens your horizons? I don’t think so. Unless we try harder to keep our eyes open for new things, our horizons, more easily than we can imagine, shrink by the recommendation function everywhere in this internet era. In a sense, this newsletter may be a good chance, hopefully, to know Japanese premium furniture as a new option for you.
Shungo Ijima
He is travelling around the world. His passion is to explain Japan to the world, from the unique viewpoint accumulated through his career: overseas posting, MBA holder, former official of the Ministry of Finance.