Where does perspective come from? – how perspectives can fuel human ingenuity
At Hunome, we’re in the business of perspectives. We connect them, analyze them, build on them. But where do these perspectives come from? The short answer is our members, but there’s so much more to it than that.
Starting with human ingenuity
Human ingenuity is the way in which human minds influence how we think, work, play, but also construct relationships, interact with each other. Our ingenuity can cause problems, find solutions to problems, transform things and rationalize thought.
Human ingenuity has long been our competitive advantage but as the world we operate in becomes more complex and rapidly exceeds our intellectual grasp, political scientist Thomas Homer-Dixon pinpoints the ‘ingenuity gap’. As we solve one problem, a new, more complex issue that has not been accounted for emerges. Just look at the societal impact of social media platforms, the polarization of society, the world’s response to Covid-19, to name just a few topical examples.
The issue isn’t the lack of ingenuity, rather than the growing need to broaden our understanding to keep up with the world around us. If we cast the net wider, we catch more fish.
Forming perspectives
Humans apply complex thought processes to bring together ideas and see the relationships between diverse subjects. We form perspectives by connecting our own internal pool of our emotional response, context from our own experiences, feedback from our senses, with contributions from other humans, the environment around us, and so much more.
Our perspectives are our points of view and they form our perceptions, our own truth or reality. Once formed, they fuel our ingenuity, enabling us to organize ourselves differently, communicating and making decisions in new ways.
We are constantly processing and understanding the world around us, and applying our learnings. But as if that wasn’t impressive enough as it is, we also have this remarkable ability to understand other peoples’ perspectives.
Combining perspectives with human ingenuity
We put ourselves in other people’s shoes, taking on their motivations and drivers to understand their perspectives. Human ingenuity then allows us to learn from a situation and respond in a totally different way, by taking on another’s point of view. So much so, that humans actively seek out other perspectives daily in our personal and professional lives. This diversity of thought enriches our ability to collectively comprehend, solve problems, and make decisions. It expands our realm of understanding to encompass that which exists outside of ourselves.
This is where Hunome comes in. Our platform is designed to help connect perspectives and make sense of any number of themes. Much like humans are able to do internally, perspectives can evolve and topics can be built upon as members collectively add their viewpoints. Analysis enables further insights that deepen our understanding.
To see how Hunome harnesses perspectives to enhance human ingenuity, sign up for Hunome.