Yeah so I've been a little lacking on the posting tip, BUT happy to bring you another fine EYE LEVEL interview with someone who I recently met in Poland of all places! We had quite an evening of drinks and eats and very intriguing, as well as, engaging conversation. Mauri is currently attending university in Poland and comes all the way from Spain; Madrid if I remember correctly.
The evening was definitely a unique experience, so I went ahead and invited Mauri to be interviewed. He agreed and here is how it went. PLEASE do read through it will enlighten and push you to grow, guaranteed. Though it may not be the usual musically driven conversation you expect from me here on this blog, it is important to not forget that life is the grand umbrella under which all things must relate.
THANKS to Mauri, Jiputchan, Samy and the whole entourage, and Wroklaw, Poland for the first snowfall of the season (well it also followed us back to Paris..LOL)! I hope to return and experience more from this often overlooked, but very warm, cultured, and welcoming country.
12:51: Please give an introduction of yourself or anything you would want to open the conversation with.
MAURI: I'm an expat living in Poland as a student. Probably the answers will speak by themselves.
12:51: As a world thinker, how much does the overall level of global education affect you? (could it be higher overall or has technology dumbed us down?)
MAURI: Well, I believe we think in a very different way than our grandparents. For sure the internet and technology in general shapes our existence now and for the ones who have been using it for quite a while it also affects our very train of thoughts. On the one hand, it makes it less important to be able to remember facts or information by ourselves since we can always look them up. On the other hand, it has fooled us into believing we are multitasking. We aren't wired for that, so we go through our day producing despite the interruptions of sms and e-mails. Also, we tend to interrupt ourselves going for the e-mail window in search of a new shot of dopamine that keeps up with our now new accustomed patterns of novelty. We need new things constantly, get bored easily and fail to get the flow of diving into a topic and forgetting about everything else, or at least, it is harder to do so.
12:51: What are your thoughts on the trend of multimedia education as opposed to classical schooling?
MAURI: There has been an excess on this for using it as a marketing stunt. For me, there is a hierarchy and multimedia is not on the first positions. First it comes the learner, that will learn even without a teacher, who comes second.Then classmates who to compete and collaborate with, and only then materials. Multimedia materials can be a great help(pictures are a must when learning some subjects), and dumbed down(in a ELI5 manner of speaking) and fictionalized materials, are great to spark the interest that can be followed up by the real thing. Multimedia just because leads to a lose of abstraction(ergo understanding), and a false learning.
12:51: Give us a favorite moment in your time abroad.
MAURI: The Ugly Duckling effect cheered me up for sure... but also any moment in which I was certain I had been a bigot up to then, but got to really connect with someone I had nothing in common with.
12:51: Pair a good book or movie with an ideal snack or meal (ex. Dostoevsky and chocolate ice cream)
MAURI: Fight club and an airplane's sushi
12:51: What is one thing you would impart on the entire globe or one thing you would tell everyone if you had the chance for everyone's undivided attention?
MAURI: Fight for what you believe, but don't forget to do it also within yourself, for the same children know their parent's phoniness, who say one thing and do another, causes stagnate if they end up being just an abstract idea with no examples to follow and have a trail of hypocrisy.
12:51: Any closing statements or quotes or general wisdom you want to pass.
MAURI: I thank you for giving me the opportunity to answer these questions . Probably one of the better ways of growing intellectually and getting new trends of thought is mixing very different people's opinions together and fool them into reading them. You've fooled me well so I'll be reading your blog . Kudos.
These three are for Mauri!
The evening was definitely a unique experience, so I went ahead and invited Mauri to be interviewed. He agreed and here is how it went. PLEASE do read through it will enlighten and push you to grow, guaranteed. Though it may not be the usual musically driven conversation you expect from me here on this blog, it is important to not forget that life is the grand umbrella under which all things must relate.
THANKS to Mauri, Jiputchan, Samy and the whole entourage, and Wroklaw, Poland for the first snowfall of the season (well it also followed us back to Paris..LOL)! I hope to return and experience more from this often overlooked, but very warm, cultured, and welcoming country.
12:51: Please give an introduction of yourself or anything you would want to open the conversation with.
MAURI: I'm an expat living in Poland as a student. Probably the answers will speak by themselves.
12:51: As a world thinker, how much does the overall level of global education affect you? (could it be higher overall or has technology dumbed us down?)
MAURI: Well, I believe we think in a very different way than our grandparents. For sure the internet and technology in general shapes our existence now and for the ones who have been using it for quite a while it also affects our very train of thoughts. On the one hand, it makes it less important to be able to remember facts or information by ourselves since we can always look them up. On the other hand, it has fooled us into believing we are multitasking. We aren't wired for that, so we go through our day producing despite the interruptions of sms and e-mails. Also, we tend to interrupt ourselves going for the e-mail window in search of a new shot of dopamine that keeps up with our now new accustomed patterns of novelty. We need new things constantly, get bored easily and fail to get the flow of diving into a topic and forgetting about everything else, or at least, it is harder to do so.
12:51: What are your thoughts on the trend of multimedia education as opposed to classical schooling?
MAURI: There has been an excess on this for using it as a marketing stunt. For me, there is a hierarchy and multimedia is not on the first positions. First it comes the learner, that will learn even without a teacher, who comes second.Then classmates who to compete and collaborate with, and only then materials. Multimedia materials can be a great help(pictures are a must when learning some subjects), and dumbed down(in a ELI5 manner of speaking) and fictionalized materials, are great to spark the interest that can be followed up by the real thing. Multimedia just because leads to a lose of abstraction(ergo understanding), and a false learning.
12:51: Give us a favorite moment in your time abroad.
MAURI: The Ugly Duckling effect cheered me up for sure... but also any moment in which I was certain I had been a bigot up to then, but got to really connect with someone I had nothing in common with.
12:51: Pair a good book or movie with an ideal snack or meal (ex. Dostoevsky and chocolate ice cream)
MAURI: Fight club and an airplane's sushi
12:51: What is one thing you would impart on the entire globe or one thing you would tell everyone if you had the chance for everyone's undivided attention?
MAURI: Fight for what you believe, but don't forget to do it also within yourself, for the same children know their parent's phoniness, who say one thing and do another, causes stagnate if they end up being just an abstract idea with no examples to follow and have a trail of hypocrisy.
12:51: Any closing statements or quotes or general wisdom you want to pass.
MAURI: I thank you for giving me the opportunity to answer these questions . Probably one of the better ways of growing intellectually and getting new trends of thought is mixing very different people's opinions together and fool them into reading them. You've fooled me well so I'll be reading your blog . Kudos.
These three are for Mauri!
Peace and Respect and ICE CREAM!
12:51