Sic Semper Tyrannis

...rule by fist, fiat, fear, and fury is destined to fail.
-Howard Gardner, Five Minds for the Future.

I find the alliteration pleasant, and we can all hope that the idea is true.
I omitted the first three words of the sentence, "In the long run," which I think are unnecessary.

PS: I might as well write about Howard Gardner's book here. Howard Gardner is probably best known for his theory of multiple intelligences which stands in opposition to the psychometric theory of a single factor g, revealed by IQ tests, that underlies all (human) intelligence. "Five Minds for the Future" I chanced across in the new books section of the library, and since it is a slim volume, and since it somehow connected in my mind with one of Bee's lines of thought, I picked it up. If we have a chance at solving the problems of the future, surely it will be by cultivating the minds of the future.

The five minds are the disciplined mind (master of a discipline), the synthesizing mind (that can draw together different disciplines), the creating mind (I don't need to describe that, do I?), the respectful mind (a mind that culturally aware and able to work with diverse people), and the ethical mind (no description needed, either). Gardner could have made myriads of choices in this synthesis, but argues well about these five as being central.

Gardner describes the characteristics of these minds, and why they are important, and also how we might cultivate them. It is in the last part the book is at its weakest, because the truth is that we simply do not know how to cultivate these qualities. E.g., to train Olympic athletes, we know what precisely needs to be done physically. Of course we do not know how to create the mentality of a champion. For our future minds, the situation is rather vague, all we can do is akin to - prepare good soil, sow good seeds, water them, and then pray! When even how to teach elementary mathematics remains in dispute, then can we expect any better in this much more difficult enterprise? Our ignorance is profound. We await a Newton of the teaching profession to give us a beginning. What one such has to accomplish is outlined in this book.