Thoughts
There is something I'd like to tell you, especially the ones among you for whom computers are the center of your lives. Computers are definitely one of the most fascinating thing there are. But there is a yet more fascinating thing: it's us.
Computers have many things in common with us. Both computers and us obtain input, evaluate it and output results. But computers are limited because their behaviour depends on programs. It's programs created by human programmers that control the type of input that can be received, the occasions on which the input can be made, and the way the computer has to react on the input. The computer is a slave, it's forced to obey foreign commands.
By contrast, we are self-controlled beings, and we are able to learn. This means that we are able to program ourselves. We are able to analyze new situations and develop ways to react on them. But that isn't all. We're not only able to react, but also to take the initiative and act on our own, develop visions and plans to adapt reality to them.
What's most important is that we aren't static, limited machines. We're constantly developing. Everything we do and everything that is done to us not only has an effect on the environment, but also on ourselves. Whatever age we are, there's never a standstill in our development. And in contrast to computers, we aren't exposed to the will of our environment. We are able to change ourselves.
We are far more complex beings than any computer. Computers have been invented by man. Although their behaviour sometimes does not correspond to our expectations, although they occasionally produce strange error messages or crash for no apparent reason, we fully understand how computers work, and their behaviour is always predictable. By contrast, we have only limited knowledge about how we work. Research in anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, genetics and neuro-sciences constantly has new surprises for us. There are many yet unknown facts to be discovered. And even if you're not planning to become a scientist, this has a meaning for you. You must be aware that we don't know everything about ourselves; we don't know all of our potentials. But we're definitely able to acquire more abilities than the ones we already have. Just think of the way you learned to speak. Why are you speaking a particular native language? Why are you pronouncing things in a particular way? This is because you learned this language at an early age. The acquisition of language not only influenced certain structures in your brain, but it also formed your physis, your larynx and vocal ligament. It changed you. A couple of years later, you learned to read. Think of what effort you first had to make in order to remember the shapes of the letters, then how you had to read words letter by letter, how long it took to finish a sentence and understanding its meaning; and how fast you can read through texts now, seeing full groups of words at one instant and immediately understanding the meaning of the sentences!
Or how about calculating? Typing? Programming?
Learning is a matter of exercise. Would a winner of Olympic Games have been this successful had he spent his days watching TV instead of training? If you feel that you will never be able to acquire a particular skill because you're not gifted enough, you're most probably wrong. Being gifted makes learning easier, yet it doesn't make it obsolete. You'll achieve things only if you do something.
When Physics Nobel Laureate Steven Feynman was invited to join Mensa USA (an association for intellectually gifted people), he had to decline because he didn't meet the requirements: his IQ was not high enough. At the same time there are thousands of people in Mensa who haven't accomplished much but scoring good at an IQ test.
You probably don't know what gems are hidden inside you. What I'd suggest you to do is:
Explore yourself.
Watch yourself, take the messages your body sends to you seriously. Learn to handle your emotions and inborn needs: don't let them take over control of your way of acting, but respect them and find ways how to respond on them.
Ponder on what you're used to do: How do I benefit from it? How do others benefit from it? Does that make any sense?
Ponder on your aims: Are they sensible? How realistic are they? What do I have to do in order to accomplish them?
Always remember that you're not only the master of your computer, but also of yourself, that you're developing and that you can control your development.
Try different ways of thinking. The human brain has far more than one way of working. Keep in mind that there are loads of different areas in the brain, with different functions. Every situation requires stimulation of specific brain areas to a different extent.
I'm aware that I might sound confusing. Let me explain what I mean by means of an example:
When you read a text, understanding and remembering it is much easier if it's a text that interests you. This is because certain brain areas are stimulated when you're interested in something, which are closely related to the brain areas responsible for memory.
If you learn how to stimulate this region on will, it will be easier for you to understand and remember even texts you previously wouldn't have considered interesting. And it's possible to learn this, by trying to find the interesting sides of everything.
Life is not only about producing and showing that you're good. Neither is it about being enjoyed. Life is an experiment. We're players in a big game. When we learn how to play this game, we acquire the ability to change some of its rules.