The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth

A major turning point in Robbins’ book is her citation of marketing expert Seth Godin (314). His observation that the education system was formed during the industrial era to supply factories with workers is instrumental in Robbins’ apology for “geeks.” The Scottish health services report Robbins quotes supports the “factory” metaphor for the education system: The report concludes that “capacity for divergent thinking declined steadily from 98% at age three to just 2% at age 25 as we progress through the education system. […] We teach conformity” (314). As a consequence of these findings, the British developed a new organization to encourage creativity in school age children. As of yet, no such comparative program exists in the US.

It is now widely accepted by the scientific and business communities that diverse groups are more intelligent and effective than non-diverse ones, even if the individuals within the group are themselves highly intelligent and empowered with expert knowledge (McKinsey; Forbes). This may be because “lack of candor basically black blocks smart ideas,” as it says in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (167). Due to “peer pressure,” non-diverse groups are less likely to respond creatively to a problem.