R2 Thoughts for You Is Your Vision In Good Shape For The World?
A 1952 photo of a robot called “Sabor” frightening a baby in Hamburg, Germany
Socrates envisioned western philosophy
Do you have any problems with your vision? I don’t necessarily mean “vision” in the sense of seeing with your eyes. I’m talking about your vision that uses your imagination. The vision that allows you to “see” what you want the world to look like in the future. If you have such a “vision,” then what does it look like? Is it blurry or clear? Is it the way you want it to be and/or the way you think it will be? Is it a vision that allows you to be what you want to be? Do bigger dreams or visions generally mean big results?
The previous paragraph points out, in question form, some of the different ways we deal with vision. Many successful people have big dreams and have manifested those dreams or visions in various ways. Isaac Asimov, a popular science fiction writer from the twentieth century, had monstrous dreams or visions. He wrote over 300 books, wrote numerous short stories and won many awards while always manifesting a vision or dream that allowed him to go back and forth from fiction to non-fiction. When he wrote fiction, he very seldom expressed himself through a character that we might remember. Instead, most of his characters would be discreet, while allowing us to envision the story through their minds.
Da Vinci envisioned and lived the renaissance.
Asimov’s ability to have the reader see his vision was powerful. Through his writing, one could see into his mind. At least, that is the way I felt as I read some of his books. I remember reading, “I Robot” while in high school and then later on, seeing films based on some of the short stories from the book. Asimov’s vision and the vision I had in my mind regarding robots, were one and the same. Of course, my vision was most likely strongly influenced by his writing. That alone was great, but after I saw a short story from the book portrayed on the movie screen hosted by Boris Karloff, I realized how good Asimov was at clearly revealing his vision to us. The screen version was almost identical to what I had in my mind.
Of course, most of what I read from Isaac Asimov was science fiction, yet he wrote in such a way that my friends and I felt it was real and we understood it. He wrote from a point of view that all could understand science. That was a big vision.
Einstein envisioned a different order for the universe.
People who have big visions have had great impacts on civilizations. Examples like Socrates, da Vinci and Einstein come to mind. Socrates for his vision of a Western Philosophy, da Vinci for his Renaissance vision and Einstein for his special vision of physics.
We also have had people whose visions were negative. Hitler comes to mind almost immediately. He had a grandiose vision, but from my point of view, it was an irrational model for our society. His New Order was a vision that excluded many people for reasons of birth, relationship and/or ethencity. It was a vision that wasn’t good for a world that is as diverse and rational as ours. Again, Hitler’s vision was wrong for our world, but was somewhat a reasonable vision, if applied to, for example, animals in a zoo.
Hitler envisioned a world of exclusion.
So, what kind of world would you like to see in the future? I believe your vision for the world helps shape your life. It helps give you purpose and a sense of accomplishment.
We need to create a vision for our world that, unlike Hitler, is inclusive, fair-minded and positive. It should be a vision that enables all of us to contribute toward the improvement of everyone in our world. It should be a vision that helps our world be in “good shape.”
What’s your vision?
R2 Thoughts for You 