In the July 10, 2006 issue of Fortune magazine, Geoffrey Colvin writes about the imagination economy, saying that to keep wages rising, American workers need to get creative. "Exhibit A in this argument is the iPod," he writes. "Its success was based on imagination as much as technology."
He goes on, "Could that model--expressed already in hundreds of forms, from the carefully created Starbucks environment to Michael Graves-designed toilet brushes at Target--be the new basis of economic success? It's an extremely audacious claim. Left-brain logical rigor has been the foundation of economic growth for more than 300 years..."
Colvin isn't sure that the theory holds water, but adds, "the vision of the right-brain future is also appealing because it plays to America's strengths today. We're falling behind in science and math? Hey, we're awesomely good at creating games, humor, design, story, and other elements of the hypothesized future."
Of course what's required is a mix of left-brain and right-brain (the iPod wouldn't be the success it is if the hardware didn't work, no matter how cool it looks), but it does seem that the appreciation and importance of right-brain thinking is increasing drastically. It may well lead to new ways for writers to use their imagination in the service of many new areas.
