Technological augmentation is a concept which is strange to many people. Some accept the word blindly because it sounds like a cool idea, and some reject it completely because it sounds abnormal and unethical. Others are willing to devote much of their energy to creating novel areas of study centered around technologically augmenting the human body, in the hope that one day the human species will be more than human. Either way, all of these scenarios suggest that reasoning through abstract concepts is the best way to dissect them, and eventually accept or reject them. I propose that this is not the case. If the Pathways to Innovation class at Mines has taught me anything this semester, it is that solutions to problems and dialogues are not the product of logic alone. What people do not understand, or often forget, is that we are a multifaceted species that has developed to understand more than simply logic. We have grown to be able to dissect important issues with our emotions and dreams, yet a large portion of humanity neglects these tools. This is why humanity's evolution has appeared to stagnate in recent years. As a privileged group, we must act as catalysts to remove this stagnation. It is important that we spread our knowledge of these cognitive tools to those that are ignorant of their potential, in order for better solutions to current and future problems can rise to acceptance.
These skills can be incredibly effective in research, just as Lincoln was implying. The ability to use various cognitive tools can be explored by applying our engineering skills to other areas such as overlaying experiences from different areas to a common work. Whenever I watch a research summary presentation, the researchers introduce a unique idea and the research that follows is applied to a wide range of fields, but utilizes that core process. This incorporation of one idea to many areas is an effective use of cognitive tools and a creative method for engineering solutions.
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