Different world view, different solutions

During the cold war there were many instances when the Soviet Union made advances in fields where we didn't. High level groups at the white house sat around and asked why couldn't we have invented that or come up with that idea. The reason why the Soviet Union came up with different ideas and different solutions is because they had a different world view.

Our world view plays a part in solving problems both in math and physics. The ability to think differently is very important when coming up with new solutions. Implicit in our ability to think differently is our ability to come up with new and original thoughts and this is related to our world view.

Aside from the superficial aspects of world view like politics or opionions, our world view is something inculcated in us since we were born. It is the cultural aspects of our world view, the cultural mythology, the cultural interpretation of relgion, and the cultural history of how to solve problems that affects our ability to understand and solve problems in the present day. It is only when we are aware of our world view that we can broaden it.

Learning a different language implicitly teaches us the world view of a different peoples, different languages have different words for same thing, sometimes they have words for things or events that we don't have, or sometimes may not have a word for a thing or an event common in our native culture. Watching television shows from other parts of the world also help us broaden our world view (if you can understand the language or they have subtitles). Reading the history or mythology of different peoples can help understand their world view.

Our goal is to broaden our world view in hopes of broadening the amount of new thoughts we can have, thereby helping us come up with different solutions to old problems or new solutions to unsolved ones.

John G.

How to Learn Math and Do Proofs