# 25 Imagine, don't wait to know !

It's something I don't like in our modern western world, the fact that film trailers are telling too much of a movie, the fact that presentation scenes are talking too much in the films, that some page turners are telling too much of who can be the culprit, etc...I don't like the fact that many young people want to know the answer without trying to find it, and not especially using generative IA. I know that way of thinking, it's Human. When I was young, I sometimes didn't want to take time to answer to a problem. But the teachers didn't congratulate us for that (and they still don't). It's just that many things changed in our society, not helping people to thing and to search by themselves.

During the last years in my work, I had some students on placement. I asked them the same type of mathematical problem. Some were trying but for the last years, they gave up...They had a PC, a smartphone, a calculator, everything to find an answer and more than they even need. But nobody tried to find the solution with a search engine. They didn't even think to this option. Generation Z ? It's not a question of generation because this generation is often known for the use of the internet. They are just thinking that internet is an entertainment tool, not a knowledge tool… When I see how knowledge is mistreated, I can't say they are totally wrong. But that shows a lack of creativity, of autonomy (they were 20-21 years old). I must admit that my generation had sometimes the same behavior but we would have dream of a smartphone with access to a search engine, because our behavior was to go to a library to find informations in books....Books, reading ? !

If reading has still a great place in culture, it's for older people...When you are young, you're a watcher, not a reader. And for a novel, when you read, you can develop your imagination, your creativity to «watch» in your mind what is described in words and sentences. I was a great reader when I was young. It was my shelter, my way to fight loneliness (I'm an only son)...So I created my own stories, my own games, etc. Games like Lego were also a good way to develop creativity and imagination. I preferred it to playmobil because everything was built in playmobil, not Lego. But now, with screens, video-games, you develop other skills than imagination or creativity, even if it is sometimes a question of enigma, of logic. There are less readers than in my youth, when computers and video games were beginning to conquer the world. I have seen some statistics on that (1) and it's right what I thought : There are big readers with more than 10 books in a year, there are those who need to read in their work, but m
ore people didn't open a book in a year. 

Imagination is not just a matter of reading. It's a culture. I have worked with many people from all over the world, from China to Germany, from Brazil to Turkey, from South Africa to Iran. I've also met people from other countries, and it's always difficult to make generalizations after meeting a few people. I often hear that Chinese are good for copying, not creating...the same idea we had about Japan before. It's bullshit but sometimes, it's linked with the culture of a region, of a company. I had this feeling in China with several joint-ventures that were so different. Maybe because one was a state-owned company and the other not. In Japan I also met some very contrasting people : Some were like the caricature we had in mind in the 70-80s and some were really creative, funny and open-minded. If you think about it, I'm sure you fill find this two kind of people. But if now you are thinking about what is promoted in high schools, I'm not sure you'll find many imaginative people in our way to teach. And whe
n a teacher tries to develop autonomy and imagination, it's very difficult and long to have a good result.

With the return of puritanism, conservatism and stricter education, I am not sure that it will go in a good way.  But I know that there will always be some people who create and do things outside the framework.

=> http://www.dataconsulting.co.uk/meaningful-visualisation/ (1) : How many books did you read (1978, 1990, 2014)

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