Thinking Creates Industry

“The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.” Winston Churchill

I bought a book recently, Creativity Inc by Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar. Even though I have read the story of the comp[any from Steve Jobs side, in this book I was getting first-hand information about what exactly happened.

From reading the book, all I could say is that nations who think are industrial and prosperous. I just kept asking myself the question, how they even thought about certain things. It's amazing really what people can come up with when they think.

Then I had to think about the government in Nigeria and the people, how no one really wants you to think. Yet we all want to have industries. We pray about things to get better but never think about how to make things better. Rarely does a nation rises above what it is thinking. If it does, it will not take long for it to get back to the level of its people’s thoughts.

Our minds have turned us into economic alchemist. So the people who cannot think will only be slaves in the new economy. It's no longer about might but the mind. The people who can think and create things will be the ones whose nation will be industrious and prosperous.

What the mind can conceive can become reality. The mind, when put to use, will create great value where none really existed. Thinking empowers resources to become creators of wealth. When people are fighting over primary resources then you should know that no person is really thinking.

In the next couple of years, all work that doesn’t require critical thinking will either be replaced by robots or taken over by software. Already the job of a driver, lawyer and accountants are being threatened. That's because people who are alive, use their minds to think, create and produce a unique value for people, will be the ones who run the economy.

Nations whose economy is not based primarily on the capacity of people to think will depend on other nations that think. For instance, China is moving into the thinking economy and creating great wealth to economically colonize African nations that are not thinking. The nations that think will dominate those who don’t. Nations like Nigeria don’t even have the strategy to empower their people to think.

Why Nigerians Don’t Think

1. Emulate Rich People Who Don’t Think

There are more rich people who never created wealth by thinking. They got it through political appointments, contracts or criminal activities. It's difficult to find a rich person to emulate, who uses his mind to create wealth. There is simply no such models. You can only model what is available.

2. Parents factor

I experience my own fair share of this. Most parents don’t want children who think. I have been shut up many times by my mum. When they ask questions they are seen as disturbing. The kids who are inquisitive are the ones who think. Instead of nurturing this ability parents nip it in the bud at that early age.

3. School System Programming

The school system is worse for making people stop thinking. The focus on exams and passing it has robbed many of the ability to think. If you can think, you will never depend on your certificate. But since many have become so dependent on it as the only way to high, good life, they have lost the ability to think critically and creatively. Businesses will die when you employ people who don’t think. And that's exactly what is happening in Nigeria.

We started the Design Club to challenge students to think and produce solutions to problems in Nigeria.

4. Leaders Promote Those Who Don’t Think

Nepotism and favoritism are simply the act of employing people not because they can think to create value out of nothing and produce results, but because they have known. Nothing discourages people from thinking like this. A government that does that completely stops a generation from learning what it means to think.

5. Religious Indoctrination

People who think are seen as disloyal in the religious circle. If anyone wants to advance, they must not question anything but accept it like as it is because it is from God. Who are you to question God or even outthink Him? That is why it seems like people have their mind castrated once the join religious organization: they simply stop thinking. Only one person is allowed to do the thinking for them. To remain in the system, they will have to suspend their ability to think.

Thinking is the only work through which value and wealth are created. The world is changing and we must make sure we are thinking and getting ahead of that change. When we empower people to think, they will be liberated and will create industries everywhere. Thinking should be our major work. Everything we do should be a result of our thinking.