Poles of Personality

There are technical people and there are creative people, neither of which could survive alone in society.

Technical people see the world as being equal to or less than the sum of its parts (reductionism). In their extremes they practice business strictly for the sake of itself, and insist on doing things that have a clear and beneficial physical purpose. Creative people see the world as being equal to or more than the sum of its parts (holism). In their extremes they practice art strictly for the sake of itself, and insist on doing things that have a clear and beneficial psychological purpose.

Without creative people to provide instinct and novel ideas, technical people would just be building a very efficient and practical vehicle to a future that they're unable to imagine. On the other hand, without technical people to provide reasoning and practical ideas, creative people would be imagining a very distant and glorious future, the vehicle to which they're unable to build.

Under the guise of objectivity these groups are sometimes placed into categories called Type A and Type B personalities, but that categorization in itself - ironically enough - is a very "Type A" behavior. Technical people like to simplify things into tangible quantities, to decrease the complexity or "frequency" of information, so its only natural they would do the same with psychology. On the other hand, creative people tend to resist categorization altogether, instead emphasizing intangible qualities and increasing the complexity of information.

Once again, either of these "poles" of personality by itself is not sustainable, and would result in a complete lack of societal progress. However, the best part is that we all have the ability to freely move between them, and that's the key to our success. Being able to strike a balance between these thought processes in our interactions with each other, with the rest of the planet, and with ourselves is what can keep us alive and moving forward. Don't clash, collaborate.