Flexible, Stretchable, Transparent Carbon Nanotube Thin Film Loudspeakers - Nano Letters (ACS Publications)

Flexible, Stretchable, Transparent Carbon Nanotube Thin Film Loudspeakers - Nano Letters (ACS Publications): "We found that very thin carbon nanotube films, once fed by sound frequency electric currents, could emit loud sounds. This phenomenon could be attributed to a thermoacoustic effect. The ultra small heat capacity per unit area of carbon nanotube thin films leads to a wide frequency response range and a high sound pressure level. On the basis of this finding, we made practical carbon nanotube thin film loudspeakers, which possess the merits of nanometer thickness and are transparent, flexible, stretchable, and magnet-free. Such a single-element thin film loudspeaker can be tailored into any shape and size, freestanding or on any insulating surfaces, which could open up new applications of and approaches to manufacturing loudspeakers and other acoustic devices."

You've got to watch the demonstration movie: 1, 2, 3. !!!!!.

A sense of humility

And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the dvides that have held back our progress.

-- Barack Obama, Victory Speech in Chicago

In a workshop on group dynamics and effective communication I attended last week, the coordinator asked the participants to name some of the qualities that enable effective communication within group. Respect, honesty, fairness, open-mindedness, acknowledging diversity, and appreciating differences are first a few in the long list of qualities. Towards the end, one quality, mentioned by a guy from engineering, resonates deeply inside me. He said he would like to collaborate with someone with a sense of humility, someone who does not think he has already figured everything out.

Humility is a rare quality in North American culture, where assertiveness is generally prized and often wrongfully confused with self-confidence. But humility is traditionally prized in East Asian cultures, and this value hasn't been changed in this age of rapid globalization.

An understanding of our fallible nature necessitates a sense of humility. It tempers our egos, helps us empathize with others, and facilitates communication. But it should not be confused with a lack of self-confidence. The general misconception of the mutual exclusiveness of humility and self-confidence may come from the fact that their combination is a rare quality.

I would argue that such a quality is best developed in multicultural societies where people make dramatically different assumptions of life, people and society. These assumptions are dubious at best. Unless people making their own assumptions explicit to themselves, they tend to fall back in their own seemly safe and cosy world-view. By being aware of those assumptions, we know our values, and know they are individual, not universal. Awareness of our unique values help build our self-confidence, and the realization of the diversity of different values keeps us humble.

Image source: http://www.mikepaulblog.com/blog/

A new approach for science : Article : Nature Materials

A new approach for science : Article : Nature Materials: "First, in spite of America's deepening financial crisis, Obama has pledged to boost scientific funding significantly under his presidency. Like Roosevelt, Obama hopes to ameliorate the deepening recession by increasing spending on domestic programmes, including research and innovation1.

The most likely boon for materials researchers will be a promised US$15 billion annual investment in clean energy technology. That would be a formidable increase compared with the roughly US$2 billion a year that is spent at present. Almost certainly, a significant fraction of the new money will go towards materials research in areas such as fuel and solar cells, energy storage technologies and energy efficiency."

The trend of new energy is too obvious to be ignored.

Seriously, why so serious?

Why so serious?

-- Joker, in The Dark Knight

Be serious, not too serious.

-- John Polanyi

Take everything you like seriously, except yourselves.

-- Rudyard Kipling

Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.

-- Oscar Wilde

Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor; for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit.

-- Aristotle

I like to plan things. And when planning, I need to be serious. But things do not always go according to plans. Actually, things usually go in different directions other than the planned, especially for things involving two persons, such as dating.

Toronto is a fascinating place where people with all sorts of backgrounds meet. And their dating behaviours differ dramatically. I've met a guy who changes his girlfriends every two months; I've seen a girl who calls one-year relationship a long one. But I've also acquainted with people who know what they are looking for, and once they find it, they commit totally to it. Different cultural and social backgrounds put different labels on each behavior, and these labels reflect their values and attitudes towards what is acceptable. Though it might be easy to judge each behavior within one particular community, judgment becomes increasingly difficult in a multicultural society. The clashes of values from different backgrounds make me really wonder what my values are and what I believe.

I had my trials. There has been awkward situations. Being too serious does not seem to be a good option. But insights into myself accumulate each time. So far, one thing has persisted. It's the belief, forcefully expressed by Steve Jobs, that "as with all matters of the heart, you know it when you find it".

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/miserynewt/2760646821/

D-Wave

Axiom 1: Hardware's sole purpose is running a specific algorithm.
Axiom 2: You have to bring up your own process within semiconductor industry

-- Geordie Rose, D-Wave

Geordie Rose, the founder of the first company that commercializes quantum computer D-wave, gives a brief talk at CIFAR Nanoelectronics about bringing quantum computation into reality. The axioms of his company are at heart of the company's problem-oriented philosophy. Their computer is algorithm-dependent. It means that the hardware is designed and fabricated to run a specific algorithm. This approach is completely different from the generic approached adopted by researchers worldwide who try to build basic logic unit. Because their computer can only run one algorithm, their application is limited, and therefore their market is limited as well. But the company still attracted huge amount of attention from the media, academy and business, and have investors such as Goldman Sachs. Why?

When I asked Geordise Rose how could he convince his investors to put money to a computer that can only solve a specific problem, his answer surprised me. He said being specific is actually an advantage in his case.

Justified Hope

This is our time — to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.

-- Barack Obama Presidential Victory Speech

To be frank, I had been cynical about US politics, especially presidential elections. But since his first victory in Iowa, I have become more and more interested in Barack Obama and have been following his journey to the White House closely. His respect for opponents is the first character that I admire, among many others, such as humility, calmness, acknowledging the imperfections of US, vision, discipline, looking for mutual understanding instead of direct confrontation, and, most of all, the ability to inspire hopes.

His huge popularity around the world proves again that there is something that we human all share, something most fundamental to all, something deeply rooted in our conscience: hope, hope that helps us conquer over fear. But hope alone will not make the change happening. What distinguishes him from the rest politicians is his ability to inspire others to take the responsibility and initiatives, and to be that change. It is only when actions are taken that changes are possible, that the gap between where we are and where we want to be is filled, and that hope is justified.

China Unveils $586 Billion Economic Stimulus Plan - NYTimes.com

China Unveils $586 Billion Economic Stimulus Plan - NYTimes.com: "In a sweeping move at a time when major projects are being put off around the world, Beijing said it would spend an estimated $586 billion by 2010 on wide array of national infrastructure and social welfare projects, including constructing new railways, subways, airports and rebuilding commuties devastated by an earthquake in southwest China in May."

Besides being a strategic responce to the current financial crisis, this plan contains a message that challenges the old Chinese wisdom of how ordinary people should handle their money: Spend it; not save it.

Image source: Flickr/delapropia

Science and China's Modernization -- Jiabao 322 (5902): 649 -- Science

Science and China's Modernization -- Jiabao 322 (5902): 649 -- Science: "The history of modernization is in essence a history of scientific and technological progress. Scientific discovery and technological inventions have brought about new civilizations, modern industries, and the rise and fall of nations. China is now engaged in a modernization drive unprecedented in the history of humankind.

Over the past half century, China has made great achievements in basic science and technological innovation. It now ranks among the top nations in the annual number of papers published internationally and patent applications filed. China has also made achievements in such areas as manned space flight, high-performance computers, super-large-scale integrated circuits, and third-generation telecommunications technology. High-tech industry has experienced rapid growth, accounting for over 15% of the manufacturing industry.

Francis Bacon, the 16th-century English philosopher, referred to science as a means to improve humankind's lot. Today, the hybrid rice variety developed by Chinese scientists has been adopted for planting in over three million hectares and has become a 'golden key' to meeting China's own food needs and boosting world cereal production. Scientific and technological development in the realm of health has also increased average life expectancy in China to that in developed countries.

To encourage further innovation, the Chinese government has formulated a Mid- to Long-Term Plan for Development of Science and Technology (2006-2020), which highlights research in the basic sciences and frontier technologies, with priority given to energy, water resources, and environmental protection. We strive to develop independent intellectual property rights in areas of information technology and new materials, while strengthening the application of biotechnology to agriculture, industry, population, and health.

The future of China's science and technology depends fundamentally on how we attract, train, and use young scientific talents today. Thus, at the core of our science and technology policy is attracting a diverse range of talents, especially young people, into science and providing them with an environment that brings out the best of their creative ideas.

In the field of science and technology, we will intensify institutional reform, restructure scientific research, rationally allocate public resources, and enhance innovation capability. We advocate free academic debate under a lively academic atmosphere, where curiosity-driven exploration is encouraged and failure tolerated.

Science has no boundaries. China's endeavors in science and technology need to be more integrated with those of the world, and the world needs a China that is vibrant and able to deliver more in science and technology. Just as collisions generate sparks, exchange and communication enrich imagination and creativity. Many Chinese scientists have stepped into the international academic arena, where they and their foreign colleagues learn from each other and jointly contribute to the worldwide development of science and technology.

To encourage the learning and application of science among the general public, we need to embrace a scientific culture by promoting scientific rationality while cherishing Chinese cultural heritage. Enlightened by science, the rich and profound Chinese culture is bound to shine more gloriously.

I firmly believe that science is the ultimate revolution. At a time when the current global financial turmoil is dealing a heavy blow to the world economy, it has become all the more important to rely on scientific and technological progress to promote growth in the real economy. Economic and social development must rely on science and technology, and science and technology must serve economic and social development. We will rely on science and technology to promote economic restructuring, transform development patterns, safeguard food and energy security, and address global climate change. We are confident that China will reap a rich harvest in science and technology and that this will have positive and far-reaching effects on human civilization and the well-being of humankind."

This is the highest level of thinking you can get from anyone in China. It's very much in consistent with what we were taught at school. What he didn't say is that China learned the importance of science and technology from its painful history. But this omission represents a win-win thinking that focuses on the future rather than on the past. Only this thinking can lead to a better future, with due diligence on the problems at present , of course.

Image source: www.chinese-tools.com

Achievable goals

Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation. The commencement speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock. Reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that I can’t remember a single word she said. This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.

(Audience laugh...)

You see? If all you remember in years to come is the ‘gay wizard’ joke, I’ve still come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock. Achievable goals: the first step towards personal improvement.

J.K. Rowling, 2008 Commencement Speech at Harvard

I started to "swim" properly at age of 1, or maybe even earlier, if playing in water can be counted as swimming. There is always a solid place shallow enough to stand on in a bathtub or a swimming pool. However, the situation changed when I am not allowed in the children's pool anymore. So I decided to swim, really, but I have to learn it first.

I asked family members how they learned to swim. They said, back in the old days, they had a pond besides their home, and they played in the pond, dived in the pond, and then they just started to swim. It seems to me another story of the family's tradition of despising formal education, but they also suggested that I can learn it without being taught. Since studies have shown that babies can swim right after being born, I said to myself, swimming should be my natural ability, and I just need to find it back. So I listed being able to swim as one of my goals of that year.

So I spent most of my Friday afternoons in a swimming pool during my exchange days in Singapore, observing, swimming, and, occasionally, getting half-drowned. I realized that getting the "natural ability" back isn't something easy. But fortunately, it wasn't too hard either. After a few months, I was able to swim back and forth in a lane, breaststroke of course. After another few months, free-style. A very achievable goal for a year, I thought.

Yesterday, I went to swim again with my labmates, and one of us started to try free-style. Seeing her swimming in free-style reminded me almost instantaneously of myself three years ago, and a quote:

That which you persist in doing becomes easier to do. Not that the nature of the thing itself has changed, but that your ability to do it has increased.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikoka/2763601145/

The Dark Knight

The movie is almost Shakespearean in its fascination with the good and evil that resides within all of us. It suggests that the greatest challenge of life is not to reject dark impulses outright, but to learn how to control them so they don't overwhelm our loftier goals.

-- Peter Howell, Toronto Star

...Mr. Nolan has found a way to make Batman relevant to his time — meaning, to ours — investing him with shadows that remind you of the character’s troubled beginning but without lingering mustiness. That’s nothing new, but what is surprising, actually startling, is that in “The Dark Knight,” which picks up the story after the first film ends, Mr. Nolan has turned Batman (again played by the sturdy, stoic Mr. Bale) into a villain’s sidekick.

-- Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

You will hunt me, you will condemn me, set the dogs on me, because it's what needs to happen, because sometimes truth is not good enough, sometime people deserves more, sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.

-- The Batman, The Dark Knight

Frankly speaking, before watching the movie, I was so attracted to the Joker, partly because of his taglines: "why so serious" and "madness is like gravity, all it needs is a little push". At the beginning of the movie, his murderous grin, freakish gaze and demonic voice pulls me in at once. As the movie progress, the war between the Batman and the Joker unfolds the ambivalence within the Batman, and that's what in the end fascinates me the most, and what makes the movie a masterpiece of our time.

Seeing his beloved Rachael being attracted to the new district attorney Harvey, Bruce/the Batman showed his principle, still aligning himself with Harvey in prosecuting Gotham criminals. Without any melodrama, the moment of choice came when he has to choose who to save, Rachael or Harvey. He went for, without any hesitation, Rachael (even though he eventually saved Harvey because of Joker's scheme). His choice reminds me of Neo's choice in Matrix, when he has to choose either to save Trinity or the last human city Zion. Neo chooses Trinity. Moral dilemma poses greatest challenge to heros, who in essence are still human.

The moral dilemmas extends from inside the Batman to the prisoners and common citizens trapped on two different boats. People on each boat have to decide whether to blow up the other boat in order to save theirs. Though eventually no one died on either of the ships, it is still poignant and thought-provoking to see the common citizen going through a vote for blowing up the other boat. However when the moment of execution came, the man who reluctantly volunteered, simply cannot turn on the detonator.

I remember my teacher on Traditional Chinese philosophy once pointed out that the most fundamental and deepest moral instinct is often the right instinct, and we are not allowed to talk about it, just as the soldier on the boat initially said: "we are not going to talk about this." But because of it's so deep and sometimes unconscious, it is impossible to put such a instinct into words, let alone to have any reasoning and logic based upon it. This inability to describe our deepest nature makes us human, I think.

Image Credit: The New York Times

Boston Consulting Group

I went to the BCG's info session for PhD student at the end of the summer. Some of its core values are exactly the ones I am looking for. To list a few.

Chart your own course. The company promises a diverse learning experience and flexibility of roles. What's more important to me is the global mobility. When I reflect on my own career choice, I will definitely put growth and mobility on the top.

Challenge your mind. The presenter says BCG is an academic firm. I thought, that's where the skills of a PhD is needed.

Making a difference. That's me.

Team with leaders. I learn the most from the best people.

Image credit: http://www.bcg.com

Money

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do." -- Steve Jobs

I always have this believe, do not work for money. And I always believe that one has to be passionate about what he works on. Recently, I met a girl who has to work to support her life as a undergrad. It generates certain respect in me, and makes me re-think my belief on work. When I search for the roots of my belief, I realize that throughout my education, I haven't worried about financing my education. High school and college tuition fee were not even a topic of discussion in my family, and in graduate school, tuition and stipend are taken care of by the school. What left to me to consider is only whether or not I like the topic I study or the work I do.

An interesting statement from one of the postdoc in my lab is that the best minds follow the money. It sounds ridiculous to me when I first heard it. But she backed up her argument by stating that all those law schools, business schools and med schools attract the top students in US because entering those schools almost guarantee a career with high income. It is a point that people in those school could hardly agree with, but I feel it has certain truth in it. I believe that there are certainly people who enter those schools because of the high-paid jobs.

The question becomes more complicated when I start to consider why the US social system in general rewards lawyers, businessman and medical doctors the most. Is it because those are really the careers that generate the most value to a society, or is it because they are just hard to get in.

Stephan Covey's whole person paradigm sheds some light on my confusion. It stresses that a life with true happiness and fulfillment (or in his words, voice) needs to consider all four parts of a human being: the body/the material needs for survival, the mind/to grow, the heart/to love, and the spirit/to live a legacy. In the current context, money is necessary for survival; passion is also crucial if one wants to truly enjoy the work; and meaningfulness in work is also crucial because in the end, we need to answer the question, what I contribute for the society.

Still on the way of searching for such a life.

Image Credit: http://www.alwaysauditioning.com

Chinese Astronaut Takes Nation’s First Spacewalk - NYTimes.com

Chinese Astronaut Takes Nation’s First Spacewalk - NYTimes.com: "The feat was part of China’s effort to establish a space station by 2020 and eventually to land on the moon."

Only a matter of time.

My first serious Rhino Art Work

Along the line of type development by Myers Briggs, NT type such as me needs to develop some SF traits in order to unfold "a fuller and richer expression of human nature". This image is the front cover of a brochure for my prof's birthday symposium.

Fear

I remember about five years ago, my roommates in college and I had a discussion about fear. It was late at night, and we were all lying on the beds, with all lights in the room off. We talked about various kinds of monsters, and we discovered that the most frightening moment is not when the monster appears, but when it is approaching with deafening footsteps and big shadows on the walls. We reason that the fear when the monster appears is just a fear of death; but the fear when the monster is approaching is combination of a fear of death and a fear of uncertainty.

Though I did not have a chance to experience the fear of death, I certainly had experienced the fear of uncertainty, the uncertainty of future. It seems strange that the most exciting thing, the future, can at the same time be the most frightening thing, especially when I take the whole responsibility of steering it. Near the end of college years, I fear the most that I won't be able to study abroad. And the resulting worry and anxiety almost consumed me. I tried all kinds of motivation, rational and irrational. And thanks to the help from friends and family, and also a number of self-help books including How to Stop worrying and Start Living, 8 Weeks to Optimum Health, Emotional Intelligence and several books on Chinese herb medicine, I am now in a condition much better than three years ago.

Looking back, I used to wish none of this happened. But now I am so glad that I have experienced it and have found my way out of it.

Today, when I looked at the application form for NSERC Vanier Scholarship, and then looked at my publication record, which is still zero(!), I experienced the similar feeling as three years ago.

What exactly drives you?

"The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. "
-- Nelson Mandela

Image Source: rantocracy.blogspot.com

Critical Self-assessment 4 -- Research

In a frenetic move, initiated largely by myself and a little by chance, I lead three projects during the summer and am involved in a fourth project. Thank to an understanding of my personality type, I do not doubt any more about juggling different projects.

Right after I came back from Nanjing, I received from my mentor one paper published in Nano Letters a few days ago, reporting a method almost as same as one of my projects. Even though I know that the right sentiment is to be happy for this scientific advancement, I feel a bit defeated because I wasn't the one to achieve this.

My competitiveness at work drives me in the right direction, but in order not to be driven solely by the desire to win or the fear of defeat, I need something larger than myself, something more meaningful than personal victory. It has to be big and important enough so that I can devote my energy into it and rejoice with others to see its advancement. Alternative energy is one field that is closely related to what I am doing; others are brain imaging, personal genome, and still some others outsides science.

Critical Self-assessment 4 -- Health

For the past eight months, as my health condition becomes better and better, I participated in a series of activities in order to recover my strength and stamina. In the spring semester, I joined Grad House soccer team to compete in the intramural league; in the middle of June, I joined the Taekwondo Academy in Toronto, and I got my first color belt in July.

For me, joining the intramural soccer league is more than just playing; it is the first time since quitting soccer in my sophomore year that I am fit for playing at competitive level again. I scored one goal in our last game, and I consider it my biggest achievement during this half year. Taekwondo is a further effort to discipline myself and increase my endurance and strength. I enjoyed it a lot.

Discipline and practical knowledge of how the body and mind works helped and will continue to help me.

"A life of pleasure makes even the strongest mind frivolous at last."- Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Book Summary: Gifts Differing: End Note

Of all the ideas presented in Gifts differing on understanding oneself, this is the one I like the most:

"With a few people there follows a still further stage, in which the other functions are permitted more development, to compensate for any one-sideness, and the pronounced typical pricture is again modified to some extent by the unfolding of a fuller and richer expression of human nature. "

Regarding understanding others, I like this description the most:

"Sensing types want to solution to be workable, thinkers want it systematic, feeling types want it humanly agreeable, and intuitives want a door left open for growth and improvement. These are all reasonable desires. Given understanding and good will, they should be achievable.

When people differ, a knowledge of type lessens friction and eases strain. In addition, it reveals the value of differences. No one has to be good at everything. By developing individual strengths, guarding against known weaknesses, and appreciating the strengths of the other types, life will be more amusing, more interesting, and more of a daily adventure than it could possibly be if everyone were alike."

It took me almost a year to finish reading this book, and I've felt strongly the urge to move on. As mentioned in the introduction, the beauty of this theory is its nonjudgmental view on personality, so it offers an unbiased view to understand people. However, since personality is only part of what makes a person unique, understanding a personal requires much more than just understanding of his/her type.

Furthermore, the type theory doesn't account for the difference in culture, religion and other factors that contribute to the spiritual aspects of life, so its description on personal values only stays at surface level.

Also worth noticing is that though the theory is nonjudgmental on personality, we do need judgment on people whenever a decision related to people is made. The author also acknowledge the pivotal importance of judgment, and report that judgment is most difficult to develop.

One final note, the personality theory doesn't account for everything in human difference, but it does provide us a glimpse of the seemingly incomprehensible variety of human natures.

Book Summary: Gifts Differing: Part 5 Type and Marriage

Among 375 couples married between 1910 and 1950:

Alike on all preferences: 9%
Alike on three: 35%
Alike on two: 33%
Alike on one: 19%
Alike on none: 4%

The most frequent similarity was on SN, which suggests that seeing the things the same way, ...

Among the couples who were different on all preferences, nearly all the husbands were thinkers.

Understanding, appreciation, and respect make a lifelong marriage possible and good.

Even the best of qualities tend to have inconvenient side effects, which may annoy those who do not see the reason for them, but the side effects are trivial in comparison with the good qualities from which they spring.

When I was a child we had a neighbor who complained a great deal about her husband's faults. One day my mother asked her what she would really like to have changed in him. It took her some time to find an answer. Finally she said, "You know, there's that deep scar on his cheek. It doesn't bother me, but it bothers him."

Likeness on TF should be hardest to achieve because there are more feeling women than thinking women in our culture, and more thinking men than feeling men...

they can acknowledge that each is justifiably and interestingly different from the other---and be amused. Their amusement may be warm or detached, wry or tender, according to their types, but it will help in working out the situation and keeping intact each partner's dignity and the precious fabric of their marriage.

-- Gifts Differing

Absolutely no experience, so only quote what's interesting to me.

Book Summary: Gifts Differing: Part 4 Type and Occupation

1. Accountants:64% ST; 23% SF; 4% NF; 9% NT;
2. Bank employees:47% ST; 24% SF; 11% NF; 18% NT;
3. Sales, customer relations:11% ST; 81% SF; 8% NF; 0% NT;
4. Creative writers:12% ST; 0% SF; 65% NF; 23% NT;
5. Research Scientists:0% ST; 0% SF; 23% NF; 77% NT;
   

--Gifts Differing

Much of what I have learned from books, speeches and workshops on career choice can be summarized into this one idea: an ideal career enables one to use his best skills to do what he values the most. Personality plays a role in career choice by shaping one's interests, values and skills. The above quoted data prove exactly this point. For example, the S types, who prefers the concrete and facts occupy a high percentage of accountants and bank employees; by contrast, none of the S types shows up in research scientists, who deal with theories and the possibilities. By similar analysis, it's no surprise that sales people are dominantly SF type. Also, creative writers, who sees possibilities more than facts, are mostly N types.

E/I preference and J/P preference also influences one's job choice. We would expect that I types favors quiet workplace while E types loves the opposite; J types enjoys planning well ahead while P types prefers to response to what requires the attention at the moment.

This type theory was originally developed to guide one's career choice, so a lot more can be said about one's type and occupations. Not to bore you with all those detailed descriptions, I will simply stop here with one important reminder from I.B. Myers: "People should not be discouraged from pursuing an occupation because they are 'not the type'......they may be valuable as contributors of abilities that are rare among their co-workers."

Book Summary: Gifts Differeing: Part 3 Type and Learning

THE MOST CONSPICUOUS relationship between type and education lies in the apparent advantage enjoyed by intuitives in most academic fields. They gravitate into higher education...

-- Gifts Differing

Words, being symbols, are abstract. The translation of words into meaning is therefore easier for intuitive type children than for sensing type children. And consequently, intuition type children enjoys schools more. One way to help sensing type student is to introduce the sound-symbol relationship explicitly early in school.

The type theory states that the sensing type students prefer actuality and facts, whereas the intuitive type students prefers abstract and theory. In other words, their interests are different. And because interest is the vital driving force of learning, sensing type students and intuitive type students tend to focus their attention on different subjects. It is no surprise that the majority of science and liberal arts students are of N type, and the majority of finance and commerce students are of S type.

The difference between S and N type students presents a challenge to teachers. Any subject is a combination of facts and theory, and the way a teacher presents a subject is likely to bore half of the audience half of the time. One way to get around this problem is to create interests in all students about both the facts and the theory, which is by no means an easy task.

Book Summary: Gifts Differing: Part 2 Type Dynamics and Growing-up

"...sensing to gather the relevant facts, intuition to see all measures that might usefully be taken, thinking to determine the consequences, and feeling to consider the impact of these consequences on the people involved. The pooling of their respective perceptions and judgments offers the best chance of finding a solution valid for them both."

"...Sensing types want the solution to be workable, thinkers want it systematic, feeling types want it humanly agreeable, and intuitives want a door left open for growth and improvement."

-- Gifts Differing

Myerses endorse Van der Hoop's description of the three stages of type developments. The first stage is the beginning of the differentiation of a prevailing process, be it sensing, intuition, thinking or feeling. At the second stage, the prevailing process dominates, and the rest processes are suppressed in order for the dominant process to reach its full development. For a few people, there is a last stage, in which previously suppressed processes are permitted to develop, thereby unfolding "a fuller and richer expression of human nature".

Van der Hoop's description of the three stages does not include the ages these stages occur. And I think for people like me who have already graduated from college, the last stage is where efforts should be, and that's where this post will focus on.

It is always enlightening, sometimes annoying, and every once in a while amusing and entertaining to see people act unconsciously according to their types. However, the last stage of type development requires CONSCIOUSLY exercising what people are not good at, and as Myerses put it "The recognition that one process is more appropriate than another in a given situation is an important milestone in type development." One not only needs to first see the difference among the four processes and realize the merits of each one of them, but also needs to be aware of which process he/she is using at a given time. For example, "Gosh, it is freezing cold out there" is a sensing perception, and "I'd better not to go outside" is a thinking judgment, and "Only if I had a car" is a intuitive perception, and "I'd better still go, otherwise my friends will keep waiting" is a feeling judgment.

In order to practice the less developed processes during the last stage of type development, Myerses suggest to use problems encountered in life to develop those skills. All the four processes have to be used, and have to be used in the following sequence, in order to arrive at a good solution.

"When confronted by a problem to solve, a decision to make, or a situation to deal with, try exercising one process at a time, consciously and purposefully, each in its own field, without interference from other processes, and in the following order:

• Sensing to face the facts, to be realistic, to find exactly what the situation is and what is being done about it. Sensing can help you avoid wishful thinking or sentiment that may obscure the realities. To activate your sensing process, consider how the situation would look to a wise, impartial bystander.

• Intuition to discover all the possibilities—all the ways in which you might change the situation, your approach, or other people’s attitudes. Try to put aside your natural assumption that you have been doing the obviously right thing.

• Thinking to impersonally analyze cause and effect, including all the consequences of the alternative solutions, pleasant and unpleasant, those that weigh for and those that weigh against your preferred solution. Consider the full costs involved and examine misgivings you may have suppressed because of loyalty to someone, liking for something, or reluctance to change your stand.

• Feeling to weigh how deeply you care about the things that will be gained or lost by each of the alternatives. In making a fresh appraisal, try not to let the temporary outweigh the permanent, however agreeable or disagreeable the immediate prospect may be. Consider as well other people’s feelings, reasonable and unreasonable, about the various outcomes, and include your feelings and theirs among the facts to be considering n deciding which solution will work best.

The final decision will have sounder basis than usual, because of your consideration of facts, possibilities, consequences, and human values. "

Though Myerses put the dynamics of type development at the end of the book, I move it ahead because this dynamic view of types opens the door to personal growth over a life time, thus preventing any deterministic misinterpretation.

Book summary: Gifts Differeing : Part 1 Theory

Myers-Briggs personality type theory describes sixteen personality types using four dichotomies: Sensing(S)/iNtuition(N), Thinking(T)/Feeling(F), Extraversion(E)/Introversion(I), and Perceiving(P)/Judging(J). The FIRST four of the eight characteristics are based on the seemingly self-evident difference of how human mind functions, and each person has one, and one only, dominant process and one auxiliary process among these four characteristics, namely S, N, T and F.

The first dichotomy Sensing/iNtuition is about the preferred way one's mind gathers information. S type person prefers gathering information directly through five senses: Smelling, seeing, tasting, hearing, and touching. On the other hand, N type person prefers gathering information through “indirect perception by way of the unconscious, incorporating ideas or associations that the unconscious tacks on to perceptions coming from outside”. This fundamental difference in the preferred way of gathering information, or in perceiving, creates a basic easily observable difference: S type person favors actuality, facts, and present, whereas N type person favors possibility, abstracts, and future.

The second dichotomy Thinking/Feeling is about the preferred way one's mind makes decisions. Thinking type (T type) person prefers arriving at conclusion through objective, impersonal, logic means, whereas feeling type (F type) person prefers personal and subjective approaches. Myerses put the difference between T and F types in an ingenious way: “a reader who considers first whether they (the theory) are consistent and logical is using thinking judgment. A reader who is conscious first that the ideas are pleasing or displeasing, supporting or threatening ideas already prized, is using feeling judgment”. Ordinary people do use both way of judging, but each of us PREFERS one of them to the other.

The third dichotomy Extraversion/Introversion describes whether the person focuses on external world of people and things or internal world of concepts and ideas. Normal people deal with both external and internal world, but only one is their focus. And the final dichotomy Perceiving/Judging is about preferred way one deals with the outside world. People have to use both perception (S and N) and judgment (T and F) to deal with the outer world, but cannot use both at the same time. Those who are more curious are usually more comfortable with perception attitude, whereas those who are more decisive are usually more at home with judgment attitude.

Out of the four basic functions of mind (S, N, T and F), only one is dominant for each person. The dominance is developed through exercising the favored function from the moment of birth. Because the use of one function requires the shut-down of all the other processes, the dominant function develops at the expenses of the other function. However, one auxiliary process must be developed to give balance in a person’s life. If the dominant process is a judging one, the auxiliary process is a perceptive one, and vice versa. The role of auxiliary process is to provide balance between judgment and perception. If a person doesn’t develop adequately the auxiliary process, their lives are unbalanced. Myers put it this way: “An extreme perceptive with no judgment is all sail and no rudder. An extreme judging type with no perception is all form and no content.”

Up to now, the post has outlined the most salient features of Myers-Briggs personality type theory. However, several interesting but less important aspects of the theory, such as the balance between extraversion and introversion, and the shadowy side, have been omitted to keep the length of this post readable.

The most intriguing aspect about a theory is its application/prediction to real life. And it is what will come next.

Book Summary: Gifts Differing: Introduction

"For many Extraverts, 'hell at a party' is 'not being able to get in'. Many introverts see it as 'being there.'
...
I cherish a personal conviction that much of the nonphysical pain and stress in our world is the result of misunderstandings among generally well-intentioned people and is not occasioned by irreparable disagreements."
--Peter Briggs Myers, co-author of Gifts Differing.

In my first fall in Toronto, I was puzzled by the question what I should do in my life, and frustrated by how little progress I have made in answering that question. A workshop offered by career center titled "Career Choice and Your Personality" caught my eyes, so I went to the workshop and learned about Myers-Briggs personality type. From then on, I became more and more interested in this personalty type theory, not only because it helps me know more about myself, offering perspectives that I have never thought before, but also because it helps me understand more about other people, especially those people that are totally different from me.

The type theory derives from the seemingly obvious observations of how the mind works: It perceives to collect informations; it judges to make decisions. By dividing the ways we perceive into sensing(S) and intuition(N) and the ways we make decisions into thinking (T) and feeling (F), it arrives at four basic traits of personalty: sensing/intuition and thinking/feeling. Adding two other dichotomies, Extroversion/Introversion and Judging/Perceiving, completes the description of types.

The book, Gifts Differing, has been the "preeminent source" for understanding the theory. Besides its authoritative explanation of the theory, it also provides valuable applications of the theory to issues such as occupation, marriage, learning, and growing-up. Consequently, my summary will be divided into five parts, with the first part explaining the theory and the rest four parts on applications.

The beauty of Myers-Briggs Type theory is its non-judgmental way of knowing oneself as well as understanding others, as you will see soon.