Probably not being able to open our minds and see from different perspectives
While Brooks acknowledges that a lack of diversity is common, what do you think are the consequences of only surrounding ourselves with those who look, act, or believe like us?
That would be a recipe for stagnation, even atrophy.
If we're not in touch with the ideas of others -- especially those who think differently to ourselves -- we run the risk of intellectual and emotional inbreeding.
I'm a geezer and am well aware that I need interaction with young people so that I can see the world through their eyes, emotions, and expectations, instead of just plodding along wearily, content to plod along the same old, same old path.
Sites like Blurtit are invaluable for sharing ideas across international borders as well as cultural and age divisions, but personal contact is, of course, better.
Good question, Marielys. Thanks for asking it.
I personally would die of boredom.
Dear Marielys Rodriguez,
Your question reminds me of the philosophy of American naturalist Joseph Wood Krutch (1893-1970)...he was a strong opponent of the reductionist approach in science, espousing a rather mystical perspective that the whole is more than the sum of its parts.
And his powerful example...which has stayed with me since reading him around 1990...was dandelions.
Genetically identical, they reproduce by cloning, fields and acres and eons of them... no diversity whatsoever, no creativity, nothing new is ever born out of the old...
And the consequence is just a dead end existence.
