International Workers’ Day should now also be Wonderers’ Day

 

Robots Will Work and Humans Will Create More Wonders

 

                                                             

                                                   

Workers’ Day History

 

A quick look at the history of International Workers’ Day tells us that it has its origins in the late 19th-century labour movement in the United States, particularly the fight for an eight-hour workday. The event is rooted in the Haymarket Affair in Chicago in 1886, where a workers' strike for an eight-hour workday turned violent, leading to the loss of lives and the later commemoration of the events.

 

More than a century later, we find that the use of words, phrases, titles are often not in sync with the changed conditions and appear archaic. The word ‘worker’ has all along meant one who does physical work - like farm worker, factory worker, construction worker and so on. Later, it went on to include clerical staff as well and the word came to stand for junior staff as against those in management. 

 

The situation is now changing completely. Work is also done by robots, not only the repetitive jobs, but the most complicated ones too. World-renowned author, Jijo Malayil, in his masterpiece cites “Xiaomi’s Humanless, self-improving robot factory with annual production of  10+million flagship smart phones”. Surely many wonderers must have contributed to the creation of such a wonderful factory.

 

                                                                            

Over to Wonderers’ Day

 

With such a dramatic change, humans have to use their inborn qualities of creativity and ingenuity to become ‘wonderers’. Wonderers? Yes, there is such a word in dictionaries.

                                                 

Etymologically, the word "wonderer" is derived from the verb "wonder" plus the suffix "-er" and refers to a person who does something new or extraordinary. Alternately, it can be also called ‘Imagineers’.

 

And so, we have “Wonderers’ Day”.

 

 

         Wise Optimistic Noble Decisive Empathetic Responsible Energetic Responsive

 

Do all humans have such a high level of creativity/ingenuity?

 

A NASA study found that 98% of 4–5-year-olds scored at "creative genius" levels, but this creativity significantly diminished as children aged, with only 2% of adults retaining that level of creative potential.

 

How do you raise creativity among adults and their Ingenuity Score?

Obviously, by removing the root causes for the decline, which are (i)Strict and traditional  upbringing or socialisation which insists on confirmative do’s and don’ts (ii)Traditional educational curriculum based on rote system and low/ no priority to experimenting as well as overemphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) (iii))Wrong career choice (iv) Rigid structure and emphasis on pre-determined methods in Taylor's system stifle worker creativity and innovation (v)Departmental organisation role patterns and bureaucratic styles of operating (vi) restricting experimentation, creativity and change-related activities to a single department (R&D) and  (vii) Imbalance in career and life. 

Are there any real life examples of workers becoming ‘wonderers’?

There are thousands of real life ‘zero-to-hero’ cases. A Google search shows the following:

•  Elon Musk - He left birth place in Africa for Canada at 18 years of age on way to the USA. Did hard labour in Canada - worked as a vegetable vendor, a log cutter and even in the boiler room of a lumber unit for $18 an hour.

• Thomas Alva Edison – Was initially a telephone operator

• Albert Einstein - Started as a clerk at Swiss Patents Office in Bern

• Henry Ford - He was a farm worker to begin with.

• Art Fry - 3M employee, who developed the sticky note (Post It) when he wanted a bookmark that wouldn't damage pages. He built his product using an adhesive created by fellow employee Spencer Silver. 

•  Paul Buchheit - a Google employee, used the company's "20% time" for individual projects policy to create Gmail, which became a key part of Google's product line-up.

• Patent Holder Workers - While it's difficult to pinpoint an exact percentage of Google employees who are patent holders, Google has a large number of patents globally and has strong incentives to reward employee inventions. The company has a total of 1,17,979 patents globally. Google also offers significant payouts to employee inventors, including $10,000 for a patent grant, and may offer smaller payouts for earlier stages of the patent process. 

 

How to Become a Wonderer and Shine?

·  As we have said earlier, 98% of children are creative as they have wandering minds and a strong sense of curiosity to explore and understand the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of everything. They do not take anything for granted as there are no pre-conceived, fixed ideas, so they also try to think ‘why not’. For example, a child asked if astronauts take off and land vertically when aeroplanes run miles for the same results?

·      It is important to remain playful. According to Walter Isaacson, “throughout his life, Albert Einstein would retain the intuition and the awe of a child….." He further reveals that Einstein wrote a letter to his friend saying that "people like you and me never grow old……we never cease to stand like curious children.”

·   A "wonderer” can be someone who is filled with awe and admiration or, someone who is curious and inquisitive about something. They are often described as thinkers, or those who engage in deep contemplation and questioning. 

·      Dr. Robert Stickgold, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School says, "We solve problems while we're asleep”. This implies finding solutions in dreams. T E Lawrence says, “All people dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their mind wake in the morning to find that it was vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerous people, for they dream their dreams with open eyes, and make them come true." Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity is often cited as a discovery influenced by a dream.

·   Psychologists often cite the 'aha' moment, where a sudden insight or solution arises from seemingly unrelated thought processes, powered by a wandering mind. You might have often experienced such feelings but ignored them.  Notice these feelings when they arise, pursue the ideas and develop them.

·    Albert Einstein reportedly took frequent daytime naps with a spoon in his hand and a plate below. As sleep overcame him, his grip would loosen, the spoon would fall and he would wake up with the sound. And, he would jot down the new thoughts.  This method allowed him to catch short naps for inspiration or to recharge.

 

Let robots work while we all follow eminent wonderers: Henry Ford, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison and keep wandering, wondering and creating greater value!

 

Let’s Unite as Wonderers and Enrich Humanity!

 

Wizards of the World!

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