Mahesh Chapai

BEL/072/218

Conceptual Age
The development of human from the past’s ‘age of scarcity’ to present’s ‘age of abundance’ is
itself the complex way of our civilization. Human have worked a lot and in different way to
achieve this abundance life. The way people work has changed significantly over time. To mark
these changes the terms ‘Ages’ is created. These 'Ages' are the Agricultural Age, the Industrial
Age and the Information Age.

Agricultural Age

Humankind began as Nomads, but we soon learned how to gather and plant seeds. That’s the
beginning of Agricultural Age. During the Agricultural Age most people were merchants,
craftspeople, farmers, or farm workers. Creative ideas and skill were rewarded as more people
would buy from you if your product was made better. Being an enterprising or entrepreneurial
person was important because most people worked for themselves as merchants, farmers or
craftspeople.

Industrial Age

The Agricultural Age changed to the Industrial age as people began creating equipment for mass
production of goods to reduce costs and machines became more important in everyday life.
During the Industrial Age, most people were factory workers. They were treated badly and their
creative thoughts were frowned upon, sometimes causing one to be fired. Few people worked for
themselves due to the large expenses of owning the large equipment in factories. Only the rich
could afford to be entrepreneurs and they were the ones to own the factories.

Information Age

Employees grew frustrated with their ideas being suppressed and the way they were treated so
trade unions were formed to ensure better working conditions. Technology became more
advanced and the unions altered the economy ushering in the Information Age. Information
technology makes it easier and cheaper to work for oneself. Those who seek out new information
constantly are the ones who succeed in today’s workplace. Individuals are encouraged to be
creative and constantly learning. One must always be thinking of new ideas to be the best.
Enterprising and entrepreneurial people flourish in today’s workplace and we are encouraged to
be so.

From agricultural age, through industrial age and now to information age, we have been guided
from the ‘age of scarcity’ to ‘age of abundance’. Thanks to left hemisphere of our brain which
remains predominant during these ages. Left hemisphere provides us the sequential logical and
rational thoughts with logical, mathematical skills. So, are we really going to live further life
with the same common trend of Information Age? The answer is no. The future belongs to a very
different kind of person with a very different kind of mind, creators and empathizers, pattern
recognizers, and meaning makers. These people, artists, inventors, designers, storytellers,
caregivers, consolers, big-picture thinkers will now reap society’s richest rewards and share its
greatest joys. The future belong to right brain thinkers since right brain is going to be dominant.
The next age which the future belongs is called “Conceptual Age”.

For nearly a century, Western society in general, and American society in particular, has been
dominated by a form of thinking and an approach to life that is narrowly reductive and deeply
analytical. Ours has been the age of the “knowledge worker,” the well-educated manipulator of
information and deployer of expertise. But that is changing. we are entering a new age. It is an
age animated by a different form of thinking and a new approach to life one that prizes “high
concept” and “high touch” aptitudes. High concept involves the capacity to detect patterns and
opportunities, to create artistic and emotional beauty, to craft a satisfying narrative, and to
combine seemingly unrelated ideas into something new. Abundance and automation are the
reason we are shifting from L-directed thinking to R-directed thinking. In the new Conceptual
Age, L-Directed Thinking remains necessary but no longer sufficient, we must become proficient
in R-Directed Thinking and master aptitudes that are high concept and high touch.

There are six essential aptitudes, “the six senses” on which professional success and personal
satisfaction increasingly will depend: Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play and Meaning.
Design

Design plays an important role for success in this age of market abundance. It is a combination
of utility and significance. A graphic designer must whip up a brochure that is easy to read.
That’s utility. But at its most effective, his or her brochure must also transmit ideas or emotions
that the words themselves cannot convey. That’s significance. Design has become an essential
aptitude for personal fulfillment and professional success due to market abundance and
competition.

Story

We all can notice it is easier to memorize story than facts. Facts has become little bits of
importance to connect with people since facts can be easily available today, thanks to the
contribution of information age. The ability to encapsulate, contextualize and emotionalize
become vastly more important in the Conceptual Age. So, the upcoming age makes us to
mastered the art of story telling and connect to the mass to live prosperity life.

Symphony

The aptitude of “Symphony” is the ability to put together the pieces. It is the capacity to
synthesize rather than to analyze; to see relationships between seemingly unrelated fields; to
detect broad patterns rather than to deliver specific answers; and to invent something new by
combining elements nobody else thought to pair. Symphony is also an attribute of the brain’s
right hemisphere in the literal, as well as the metaphorical, sense.

Empathy

Empathy is the ability to imagine yourself in someone else’s position and to intuit what that
person is feeling. It is the ability to stand in others’ shoes, to see with their eyes, and to feel with
their hearts. It is something we do spontaneously, an act of instinct rather than the product of
deliberation.

Play

In the Conceptual Age, People rarely succeed at anything unless they are having fun doing it.
The large amount of workload in this age is supposed to be compensated by the fun and games.
When we are playful, we are activating right side of brain leaving left side of brain in rest. So,
laughter, fun and games play important role in Conceptual age.

Meaning

Frankl in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, he argues that “man’s main concern is not to gain
pleasure or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life.” The search for meaning is a
drive that exists in all of us and a combination of external circumstances and internal will can
bring it to the surface.

So, for the happy survival in Conceptual Age, one must master high-concept and high-touch
abilities otherwise one will suffer during their existence.