Spring Thinking: Rhizomes

We've been taught to think with the image of trees -- hierarchies, branches, roots and leaves, all stemming from the one with new seeds planted independently or blooming from the same bulb.  Independent living, stand-alone ideas that branch rather than roots and shoots from nodes.  As mothers, we think both ways. 

Our thinking and our way of working with ideas is changing because of technology's influence.  We are becoming more like the iris or the aspen with connections that stem out in various directions into new links.  Rhizome is a philosophical term for this concept. It is a horizontal way of proceeding rather than vertical thinking.  It is the idea of the team rather than the individual and the idea of incompleteness, of constant change in any direction and from any spur.   Two theoretical French men, Felix Guattari and Gilles Deleuze thought on deep levels about rhizome philosophy.  Their ideas have become relevant when applied to the idea of the algorythms of connections that occur through links online.   I've thought about it in terms of (new) media theory.

Children are taught to think now in bubble ideas, drawing lines to connect ideas.  It is like a new spider at every leg with many options for new directions, various routes out and many routes in.  Think of how you follow links on the computer.  One path leads to another.  The methods of wayfinding change.  It is no longer a straight highway from here to there.  Things are no longer black and white and binary thinking.  The approach is more fluid, more malleable, less rigid.

A more feminine influence in thinking?  Technology? Changing philosophy? Non-western ideas? Globalization?   Je pense en printemps.  Spring thinking as daffodils bloom on my terrace and in Central Park.

Comments

[Panhandle Poet]

There certainly may be something to your supposition that the non-linearity of new learning methods is a product of feminine influence. Men and women were designed to complement each other. A non-gender specific organism like the internet should reflect both linear and non-linear modes, simple because it is non-gender. Thinking modes also seem to be tied somewhat to personality types. More creative individuals are less linear, more accretive. Executive types tend to be highly linear. I fear that if teaching styles become overly influenced by a particular methodology that perhaps utilizes strictly non-linear learning methods, the linear thinkers will be left behind. I think we have seen the opposite of this in years past in that instruction was geared toward the male (linear) mind. As a result, there may have been a bias against females (non-linear) on certain standardized tests. There must be a balance achieved that tailors the approach to the individual. The internet, being non-gender-specific, may become the ideal medium for teaching by such a tailored approach.

[Mamacita]

This is fascinating and a good catch about an influential change in teaching and learning. My youngest is doing some of this at school and it was very foreign to me. Thanks for showing me its origin!

[mcewen]

It would seem that we're almost a 'season' ahead of you as the Irises begin to die back.
Best wishes