Week 4 Reading Reflection

I was very surprised to find out that adults only use up to 10% of their creative potential. When the author explains the definition of creativity, I do not necessarily agree with him saying “having the power to create(137).” There should be another definition that doesn’t involve the word “create” when explaining what “creativity” is. I would ask him for another way of explaining what creativity means. On page 140, I was confused as to what he meant by there being a major difference between an idea that arises from speculation and one that is the product of “…extended thinking, research, experience, and work.” Isn’t a good idea, a good idea—no matter where it came from? Finally, I really liked what he said in terms of recording and jotting down any intuitions or feelings and then going back to them later and determining their accuracy. 

Top 5 World Problems

1. Lack of education: In many third world countries vast numbers of children aren’t able to get an education simply because it’s too expensive, leading them to live much less fortunate lives. It’s harder to find a job and support yourself and your family without going to school. The first world countries should all create programs that create schools in poverty stricken places.
2. Global Warming: The heating of the atmosphere and waters due to carbon emissions is the biggest problem the world faces today. By reducing the amount of fossil fuels we intake and utilizing alternate forms of energy like wind and solar, we can begin to heal our planet.
3. Disease: Sickness is the main cause of death in the world and it happens much more often in the undeveloped countries where hospitals are hard to find and they’re not cheap. Some of the main diseases that threaten humanity are Cancer, HIV/AIDS, heart disease, and respiratory disease. We need to fund more research that try curing these diseases or at least lessen their effect.
4. War: Nations wage war due to territory, religion, and wealth at the cost of lives that range up to the millions. Now there is conflict with dictatorships like North Korea and Russia as well as Islamic terrorist groups like ISIS and Boko Haram. Although it may never happen, optimally we would form a global society where every country can trade and co-exist with each other in peace.
5. Racism: There still seems to be a huge problem with racism in this country as many innocent people are getting killed through racial profiling. These tragedies mainly involve police officers shooting young unarmed Africa-Americans usually merely based off suspicion. The police need to be required to have a video feed running that cant be tampered with and the police guilty of abusing their power need to be held responsible. In a broader scheme, we need to fundamentally change the way people view races as separate groups rather than a unified one.

1. Racism: In a broader scheme, we need to fundamentally change the way people view races as separate groups rather than a unified one.
2. Lack of education: The first world countries should all create programs that create schools in poverty stricken places.
3. Global Warming: By reducing the amount of fossil fuels we intake and utilizing alternate forms of energy like wind and solar, we can begin to heal our planet.
4. Disease: We need to fund more research that try curing these diseases or at least lessen their effect.
5. War: Although it may never happen, optimally we would form a global society where every country can trade and co-exist with each other in peace

      For the problems, I initially thought that Global Warming was the obvious choice to take the first spot but as I was working on the list, I realized something -- By solving the problem of the lack of education, the whole world would become more conscious of our situation and we would fix the problem of climate change more efficiently (and many problems on my list). As for the solutions, I think ending racism would be the easiest. I believe we are in the generation where the people who hold racist views are dying out while their children grow up in a world that is diverse and multicultural. The millennials will then teach the same decency to their children and a new cycle will take place.