Why right-brainers will rule this century

[Sequoia]

Your left brain is logical, linear, by-the-numbers; the right side is creative, artistic, empathetic. Oprah Winfrey talks with Daniel Pink about his groundbreaking book, "A Whole New Mind", and explores how right-brain thinkers are wired for 21st-century success.

The best part: Anyone can tap into the right mind-set.

Pink, a former chief speechwriter for former Vice President Al Gore, presents a convincing argument that our country is entering a new era -- the so-called conceptual age -- during which right-brained skills such as design and storytelling will become far more crucial than traditionally left-brained skills such as accounting and computer programming.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/worklife/05/07/o.Oprah.Interviews.Daniel.Pink/index.html

[mdmc]

1. i can tell stories

and i am left handed..

[Lyric]

2. The right part of your brain controls the left part of your body.

:hi:

[Orrex]

3. Everything in my experience supports the idea the there is no hard left/right brain dichotomy

At least, not in a healthy brain, and certainly nothing at all like the all-or-nothing split that pop science characterizes it to be.

[mdmc]

4. perhaps

[LaurenG]

5. You think?

Not in a healthy brain? :o I do agree though that all or nothing isn't the way forward either. A healthy balance would be great, unfortunately few people are taught how to do that.

[Orrex]

6. What particularly annoys me about it...

is that it's invariably put forth either as an excuse for why someone has trouble with math or as a means of bolstering one's claims of artistic sensibility. Saying "I'm not good at math" can sort of imply a failure or a lack of effort, but saying "my brain isn't wired that way" is a handy and unassailable excuse!

I should underscore that I'm talking about a healthy brains without organic defects; certainly a wide range of conditions exist that can complicate the interaction of the two hemispheres.