Exercise text:
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Look at problems in many different ways.
Find new perspectives that no one else has taken (or no one else has
publicized!)
Leonardo da
Vinci
believed that, to gain knowledge
about the form of a problem, you
begin by learning how to
restructure it in many different
ways. He felt that the first way
he looked at a problem was too
biased. Often, the problem
itself is reconstructed and
becomes a new one.
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Visualize!
When Einstein
thought through a problem,
he always found it necessary to
formulate his subject in as many
different ways as possible,
including using diagrams. He
visualized solutions, and
believed that words and numbers
as such did not play a
significant role in his thinking
process.
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Produce!
A distinguishing characteristic of
genius is productivity.
Thomas Edison
held 1,093 patents.
He guaranteed productivity by
giving himself and his
assistants idea quotas. In a
study of 2,036 scientists
throughout history, Dean Keith
Simonton of the University of
California at Davis found that
the most respected scientists
produced not only great works,
but also many "bad" ones. They
weren't afraid to fail, or to
produce mediocre in order to
arrive at excellence.
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Make novel combinations.
Combine, and
recombine, ideas, images, and thoughts into different combinations no
matter how incongruent or unusual.
The Austrian
monk Grego Mendel combined
mathematics and biology
to create a new science of heredity.
The modern science of
genetics is based upon his model.
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Form relationships.
Make connections between
dissimilar subjects.
Da Vinci forced
a relationship
between the sound of a bell and
a stone hitting water. This
enabled him to make the
connection that sound travels in
waves. Samuel Morse invented
relay stations for telegraphic
signals when observing relay
stations for horses.
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Think in opposites.
Physicist Niels Bohr believed that if you held
opposites together, then you suspend your thought, and your mind moves
to a new level. His ability to imagine light as both a particle and a
wave led to his conception of the principle of complementarity.
Suspending thought (logic) may allow your mind to create a new form.
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Think metaphorically.
Aristotle
considered metaphor a sign of
genius,
and believed that the individual
who had the capacity to perceive
resemblances between two
separate areas of existence and
link them together was a person
of special gifts.
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Prepare yourself for chance.
Whenever we
attempt to do something and
fail,
we end up doing something else.
That is the first principle of
creative accident. Failure can
be productive only if we do not
focus on it as an unproductive
result. Instead: analyze the
process, its components, and how
you can change them, to arrive
at other results. Do not ask the
question "Why have I failed?",
but rather "What have I done?"
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Have patience
Paul Cézanne (1839 – 1906) is
recognized
as one of the 19th century's
greatest painters, and is often
called the father of modern art,
an avant garde bridge between
the impressionists and the
cubists. During his life he only
had a few exhibitions though his
influence on subsequent artists
was great as an innovator with
shape and form. His genius,
however, was not evident until
late in life. He was refused
admission to the Ecole des
Beaux-Arts at age 22 and his
first solo exhibition was at age
56. His genius was the product
of many years' practice and
experimental innovation.
Flash exercise contributed by
Megan Goodman and Louise Lystig Fritchie, Interactive Media (DHA 4384)
School of Design, University of Minnesota.
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