Imagination

I like the title of Friedman’s Conclusion “Imagination”. In the summary of his book it seems like he is trying to show that the key to success is imagination. We need to use it nowadays to keep up with and invent new technology, jobs, applications, businesses etc. We cannot be satisfied with the status quo. The availability of the internet allowing us access to anything or anyone in the world with a computer and internet access. That is a real advantage in most situations. The problem is that with positive also comes negative. Unfortunately, the various terrorist organizations have the ability to get their messages out to any who will listen. But, the ability to put out information that will negate their claims is also within the realm of possibility. The only thing limiting us is our imagination. Like all things in life, we can use the internet, blogs, etc to have a positive impact or a negative impact.

One thing Friedman said really stuck a note for me. He was talking about different statistics to measure society by “There is another statistic, much harder to measure, that I think is even more important and revealing: Does your society have more memories than dreams or more dreams than memories? By dreams I mean the positive, life-affirming variety.” We need to continue to look ahead and dream to keep improving. Without dreams what is there to look forward to in life?