MSO_Admin

Sorry about the delay! We are ready to begin now.

Tony_Buzan

Greetings, my good friends!!

MrMRTipper

Tony, Good Morning to you. It is Michael Tipper here!

Tony_Buzan

Greetings, my good friends on this last hour of the first 48-hour day of the Century of the Brain and the Millennium of the Mind. The response so far has been marvellous and I am looking forward to having this initiative, with your help, accelerate throughout this year.

MSO_Admin

Tony is ready to take your questions now!

MrMRTipper

Tony, what is your vision of the mentally literate schools of the future?

Tony_Buzan

Ha ha ha!

Firstly, my vision is that all schools will be mentally literate and that the mentally literate school will be the norm within the first half of the twenty-first century. In simple terms, a mentally literate school can be defined as one which lives by the slogan "Mens sana in corpore sano" - (a healthy mind in a healthy body - a healthy body in a healthy mind).

The mentally literate school would have, as its basis, an education program which considers the following to be the prime educational skills to be developed:

1) A complete knowledge of the "hardware" of the brain.

All children will be taught about the physical nature of their super-bio-computer including state-of-the-art information on the left and right cortex the different operational parts of the brain including upper, middle and lower, and especially taught about the physical structure and function of their super-bio-computer chips - their brain cells.

It is particularly important that children have a full knowledge of this last item, as it contains within it the seeds for the understanding of all their mental functions as well as giving them an extraordinary boost in confidence and self-esteem. This comes when they realise that they have a million million brain cells (167 times the population of the planet Earth!) and that each one of those brain cells is more powerful than a standard PC.

2) A complete knowledge of the "software" of the human brain.

This will include daily lessons in the following areas:

A) Memory and all its associated mnemonic skills and systems.

Children will be taught how to remember facts, data, poetry and indeed anything they wish to remember, introducing an integrated way which emphasises integration, understanding, imagination and speed of recall. This will be done in the context of establishing short-, medium- and long-term memory. It is interesting to note that such training also increases the imagination and skills of creative thinking. Ted Hughes, the poet laureate, was so convinced of the efficacy of this approach that he used to teach children basic memory systems, that they were all poets and that the development of their imagination was a major key to their success in life.

B) Creative thinking.

Each child in a mentally literate school will be taught that whereas the average person in the twentieth century could think of only twenty or thirty uses for any common object, they would be able to, with appropriate training, think of a minimum of a thousand uses for any common object. Similarly, a thousand solutions to any given problem.

C) Thinking Tool Kit.

In a mentally literate school, children will be taught general thinking skills including analytical, logical, lateral, strategic, global and radiant. In other words, each child will be equipped with a Thinking Tool Kit.

D) Speed reading skills.

The average child in the twentieth century read at an appallingly slow 200 words per minute with mediocre comprehension and very little long-term retension. In a mentally literate school, children will be taught to read at two to five times this rate with excellent comprehension and very high long-term retension.

E) Mind mapping skills.

The Mind Map is a "Swiss army knife of the brain" learning tool. It allows the child to incorporate all the major principles of memory whilst simultaneously learning with a full range of cortical skills into a single learning technique that allows the child to plan essays and examination answers to take and make notes, to recall, to review and to create in a way which is commensurate with the learning capabilities of the brain. The Mind Map is a multi-dimensional peg that fits into a multi-dimensional hole.

F) Study skills.

In a mentally literate school, all children will be taught the nature of knowledge management in the context of what has been known as study skills. They will be taught how to "eat books for breakfast" and to consider study as a joy rather than drudgery.

G) Art.

In the mentally literate school, all children will be taught Artistic Literacy. They will be given the fundamental drawing and painting skills which are, like verbal and numerical literacy, basic alphabets that are natural to any normal brain and which can be learned in a similar manner and similar facility. Studies have shown that children taught the basics of art do better in all other subjects and are more relaxed and self-confident. In the Century of the Brain, artistic literacy will become a new norm as the global renaissance accelerates.

H) Music.

Music is a natural expression of the human body, mind and soul. In the mentally literate school, all children will be taught a number of musical instruments - including that most complex and important of all, the human voice.

I) The body.

In the mentally literate school, children will undergo complete physical training, with emphasis on flexibility aerobic health, muscular strength, physical poise and movement and both individual and team sports. Whereas in many education systems around the world the physical is being diminished, in the mentally literate school, it will be integrated and emphasised.

J) Mind sports.

In the mentally literate school, children will be taught major mind sports from the four areas of board games, card games, mental skills games and computer games. The mentally literate school will emphasise that mind sports are gymnasiums for the brain and that learning games such as chess, bridge and memory skills will develop their analytical, strategic and creative thinking skills while simultaneously using "both sides of their brains". They will be, while playing such games, consciously and unconsciously developing the Muscles of their Mind.

3) The teachers will simply be of the highest quality and poor environments and facilities will be eliminated.

MrMRTipper

Tony, thank you very much for that comprehensive answer. With that vision, the future of education does indeed look bright!

Sean

I agree with Tony's 10 to millons of years pyramid on New Year's Day. Why do people still use decades-to-centuries-old technology to balance and control the brains development? As new EEG and optical-acoustical technology has existed for 8 years, why have only approximately 3000 people used it to date? It is now possible to achieve in hours to days results that take years to decades with the old systems!

Tony_Buzan

Wonderful to be with you at this moment in time, Sean!

The mass of human Habit Weight can be likened to a gigantic tanker in which the captain has just made a ninety-degree turn to the right (double meaning intended!). Because there are so many of us and because education has only recently become considered an inalienable human right, the whole field may be considered to be in its infancy. Because fundamentally verbal and numerical literacy, when taught, made such dramatic changes, most people feel that the major educational leap has been made and that we are now "modern". As you correctly imply, we are still, relatively speaking, in the Stone Age.

I am confident that within the next decade the global awareness of the importance of new educational techniques and the specific significance of electroencephalographic research and training will become widely known even more widely researched and very widely used. For example, Dominic O'Brien, six-times World and reigning Memory Champion, both regularly uses EEG training for his own purposes and both teaches and promotes it personally and professionally. 3,000 will leap to 30,000 very soon! Floreant dendritae, Sean! Keep up the good work! With love, Tony.

Sean

If Dominic, who I know you respect, uses it 30 min a day with great success, why does your organization not even mention it on your web site or in any of your literature?

Tony_Buzan

We do mention it in some of our literature. Our new web sites are coming online in February and we look forward with immense pleasure to whatever information we can incorporate in these sites from your good self, Dominic and others.

Tony_Buzan

I'll ask Sean a question now; Sean, I'm assuming (I hope correctly!) that you are the speed reading world record holder listed in Buzan's book of Mental World Records. If you are, let me take this opportunity of (a) welcoming you and (b) announcing with great pleasure to this chat session and in this significant time zone that you will be masterminding the World Speed Reading championships which will be taking place in the context of the Mind Sports Olympiad in London, August 19-28 of the year.

Sean

Yes, it is me and I will take great pleasure in participating next year, especially if we can concentrate on reading to "get the point", not to memorize insignificant details.

Tony_Buzan

Agreed as usual! Yours saccadically, Tony.

Speedy

I would like to know what you mean by get to the point, please.

Sean

To "get the point" means to gain an understanding of what you have read and to be able to generate a comprehensive mind map and to give a verbal presentation demonstrating the knowledge gained from the text read.

MrMRTipper

What do you think will be the next great advance in understanding the brain, its functions or capabilities?

Tony_Buzan

I believe that the next great advance will be a Mental Multiplication Effect. Rather than being a specific advance such as the recent awareness that the human brain generates new brain cells throughout its life, the next advance will be what I often liken to the "glowing wood in the fire" syndrome.

If you have two logs which are just glowing in a fireplace the probability of a critical mass causing conflagration is low. The more glowing logs you place on the fire, especially if their glow is facing other glows, the higher the probability of conflagration. Before conflagration, there is relatively little energy released. The instant critical mass is achieved, a sudden and explosive change in the system takes place and the full-blown fire erupts.

At the moment there are six billion "logs", over half of which are beginning to glow with information about their own energy system of intelligence - their human brains. As more and more become more aware, and as each begins to realise that all the others are similarly glowing, we will see a sudden eruption of the manifestation of Multiple Intelligences, the appreciation of them in self and others and the working together to build a new renaissance which will make the great renaissances of Asia, Greece and Italy seem like small flames in comparison to the radiant might of the Sun.

The next major revolution in brain science, therefore, will be the realisation by intelligences that each and every one of them is considerably more powerful than ever believed before and that their mental might is only multiplied and enhanced by association with others. The human race will witness in this coming century the true birth of Global Brain.

Sean

Yes, there are 6 billion logs and each has 300 billion sodium/potassium batteries(neurons), ony 15 billion of which are connected. Imagine what could happen if the othe 285 billion light bulbs were plugged in for the 6 billion logs. Electronics can do this faster than anyone could believe.

Tony_Buzan

I do imagine! I do imagine!! I do imagine!!! Just imagine.... Paradise is possible....

Tony_Buzan

Sean, our MSO web site has established a weekly Brain Star chat session. You are obviously a particularly bright solar nexus - please accept my invitation to host one of these sessions. Our webmaster Chris Dickson, who has kindly volunteered to run this session, would love to chat to you about this possibility. Let's make it soon, Brain Brother!

Sean

Thank you, I would be honoured to participate.

Tony_Buzan

Wonderful!

Tsunami

Hi, Tony!

Tony_Buzan

Hi Tsunami! Roll on!

Tsunami

Do you have any more books planned?

Tony_Buzan

Yes! This year, the BBC will be launching a new millennial edition which we are entitling "The Encyclopedia on the Use of the Brain", which will be a set of updated versions of "Use Your Head", "Use Your Memory", "The Mind Map Book", "The Speed Reading Book" and "Master Your Memory". In addition, the Beeb will be publishing my new book on the body and mind. Harper Collins will publish a new book on multiple intelligences and how to develop and use them. Both the Beeb and Harper Collins books will be published during the June-September period and will have launches at the MSO.

On the poetry front, I will have at least two new books of poetry published, again in the latter half of 2000. On the mind mapping front, a book I wrote with Vanda North, "Mind Maps for Business", which is already published in German, will be published in English. At the Mind Sports Olympiad, the updated, state-of-the-art Book of Mental World Records will be launched; finally, on a global basis, China will be publishing all my BBC books and Spain and Latin America will be launching two books and will continue to do this on an annual basis until the year 2010. Happy reading! Happy speed reading!

Tsunami

Yes, indeed! Tony, what are your volumes of poetry called? I'm having trouble finding them.

Tony_Buzan

My published volume of poetry is Spore One and is available via Buzan Centres at http://www.mind-map.com/ , as is a small poetic book entitled The Younger Tongue. My new volumes will include the Concorde poems - poems written about Concorde while flying Concorde! - a giant poem entitled "Structuring Hyperspace" (a poem for the millennium) and a volume of collected poems. Single verses will appear weekly on web sites, to be arranged and announced.

Tsunami

OK, is the poem you included in Use Your Memory, "Simile", is that one of yours? It's one that you included for us to practice memorising poems.

Tony_Buzan

Yes it is - hope you enjoyed it!

Tsunami

That was a good poem, I was just checking it was yours, I don't have the book handy to check.

Sean

Congratulations Tony for all your good work - keep it up!

Tony_Buzan

Thank you, my good friends, for dedicated and ongoing support of the brain and this new initiative to help rescue it! I'll sign off by thanking you all for being Founding Signaturies DO (Day One) and hope that you will pass this petition-message on so that by the end of the year we will have all countries most people and many of the major organisations and governments of the world signed on.

Floreant dendritae!

Tony Buzan.

Tsunami

Thanx, Tony! It's an honour to meet you, Tony, happy new millennium, here's to getting everyone signed on!

Tony_Buzan

And I'd like to meet you, too, Tsunami; do you have other nomenclature?!

Tsunami

Thanx, my name is Graeme; it's a pleasure to chat to you!

MrMRTipper

Tony, thank you for your time today. Have a great 2000, I'll be in touch soon. Love, Michael.

MSO_Admin

Tony has other things to do at this point in his full and busy life, but we are fortunate enough to have him as a Brain Star Guest in our regular Sunday evening chat session tonight, from 9pm GMT (1pm Pacific, 4pm Eastern, 10pm Central European) and I'm sure he'd be delighted to see you all again there. Thank you very much for your excellent and probing questions; I know he's enjoyed answering them - and thanks very much to Tony Buzan for his time.

We look forward to seeing you all again later!