Edward de Bono on creative thinking
Summary
TLDRThe speaker compares the human brain to a computer and questions the 'software' we use to think. They highlight how Western thinking, shaped by ancient Greek philosophers, has stagnated in creativity. Meanwhile, China’s early technological advancements halted due to an overreliance on certainty. The speaker emphasizes that true creativity involves generating valuable, practical ideas, not just being different for the sake of it. They introduce lateral thinking, which involves breaking free from conventional patterns to explore new possibilities, contrasting it with logical thinking constrained by past experiences.
Takeaways
- 🧠 The brain can be seen as a computer, and creative thinking is like its software, developed largely by Greek philosophers 2400 years ago.
- 💡 Creative thinking is a skill, not just talent or inspiration, and has been neglected since the time of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
- 🇨🇳 2,000 years ago, China led in science and technology, but progress stalled when scholars believed certainty was more important than imagination and speculation.
- 🎯 Creativity must provide value—being different for the sake of being different is not enough.
- 🚪 Just changing something, like making a door triangular instead of rectangular, isn't creative unless it adds value.
- ❌ Fear of failure hinders creativity. In English, we lack a word for a justified effort that didn’t succeed, leading to the negative perception of failure.
- 🔄 Provocation, a tool of lateral thinking, helps generate new ideas by disrupting normal logical thinking and allowing new patterns to emerge.
- 📦 Thinking outside the box involves breaking free from existing concepts, perceptions, and constraints to develop unexpected ideas.
- 🔀 Lateral thinking is a structured form of creativity that involves moving across patterns rather than staying within the usual thought processes.
- 🌟 Thinking outside the box is synonymous with lateral thinking and refers to unusual, creative ideas that break away from conventional patterns.
Q & A
What is the 'software' of the human brain according to the speaker?
-The speaker refers to the 'software' of the human brain as the thinking systems that have been designed and used over time, particularly highlighting the thinking systems of Western civilization, which were developed 2400 years ago by the Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
What does the speaker mean by 'creative thinking is a skill'?
-The speaker emphasizes that creative thinking is a learned skill rather than just a natural talent. It requires deliberate effort and methods to develop, rather than being a spontaneous or purely inspirational process.
Why does the speaker mention China being ahead in science and technology 2,000 years ago?
-The speaker uses China as an example to show how a civilization that was once advanced in science and technology eventually stagnated because its scholars focused on moving from certainty to certainty, thus neglecting the value of speculation, hypothesis, and imagination.
What does the speaker mean by 'certainty to certainty' in relation to Chinese scholars?
-By 'certainty to certainty,' the speaker suggests that Chinese scholars avoided exploring new possibilities, speculation, or hypotheses, which led to stagnation in their intellectual and technological development.
Why is just 'being different' not considered creativity by the speaker?
-The speaker argues that creativity must have value and purpose. Simply being different for the sake of it is not enough; there must be a reason or value behind the creative idea for it to be meaningful.
What is the difference between a 'mistake' and a 'fully justified venture' according to the speaker?
-The speaker points out that there is no word in the English language for a 'fully justified venture' that did not succeed due to reasons beyond one’s control. This lack of distinction leads people to label all failures as 'mistakes,' which discourages creativity.
What is 'provocation' in the context of lateral thinking?
-Provocation is a method of lateral thinking where an idea or statement is made without an immediate logical reason, but it serves to shift thinking patterns and open up new ideas, potentially leading to creative solutions.
What does 'thinking outside the box' mean?
-'Thinking outside the box' refers to escaping the usual constraints, concepts, perceptions, and rules that shape conventional thinking in order to generate new, creative, and unexpected ideas.
Why does the speaker prefer the term 'lateral thinking' over 'thinking outside the box'?
-The speaker prefers 'lateral thinking' because it is more precisely defined in system terms, meaning it involves moving from a main pattern of thinking to a side pattern, whereas 'thinking outside the box' is a more general term for creative or unusual thinking.
How does lateral thinking differ from logical thinking?
-Lateral thinking contrasts with logical thinking because logical thinking requires ideas to fit with prior experience and reasoning, while lateral thinking allows for the generation of ideas that may not initially make sense but open up new perspectives and possibilities.
Outlines
🧠 Human Brain as a Computer and its Ancient Software
The speaker draws a comparison between the human brain and a computer, suggesting that the software, or way of thinking, used by Western civilization was created 2,400 years ago by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Despite technological advancements, little has been done to improve on this system of thinking.
💡 Creative Thinking: A Skill, Not Just Talent
Creative thinking is discussed as a learnable skill, not merely a talent. The speaker dismisses the romanticized notion of passively waiting for inspiration, pointing out that effective creativity involves active problem-solving rather than random or spontaneous inspiration.
🚀 China's Historical Superiority in Technology
The speaker highlights that China was far ahead of Western science and technology 2,000 years ago, with innovations such as rockets and gunpowder. However, Chinese scholars’ belief in moving from certainty to certainty hindered the development of speculative thinking, leading to a dead end in progress.
🎯 The Importance of Value in Creative Ideas
The speaker stresses that creativity must have value and warns against mistaking novelty for creativity. Merely being different is not enough; ideas must demonstrate value, otherwise they risk being perceived as pointless deviations, which harms the perception of creativity.
🤔 Fear of Failure and the Misunderstanding of Mistakes
People often avoid creativity because of the fear of failure. The speaker criticizes how the English language lacks a term for a justified failure, meaning any attempt that doesn't succeed is labeled a 'mistake,' which discourages experimentation and innovation due to career-related fears.
🔄 Provocation: A Tool for Lateral Thinking
Provocation is introduced as a method of lateral thinking, which is different from logical thinking. In provocation, ideas are suggested without initial justification, but this can help generate unexpected ideas by shifting thought patterns. This approach leads to new creative insights.
📦 Thinking Outside the Box vs. Lateral Thinking
The speaker explains the common phrase 'thinking outside the box' as a way to escape typical constraints and generate creative ideas. They favor the term 'lateral thinking,' which involves intentionally moving away from established patterns to develop new ideas.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Human Brain as a Computer
💡Greek Gang of Three (GG3)
💡Creative Thinking
💡China’s Intellectual Decline
💡Value of Creative Ideas
💡Mistakes
💡Provocation
💡Lateral Thinking
💡Thinking Outside the Box
💡Certainty vs. Possibility
Highlights
The human brain can be viewed as a computer, and the question is: what software does it run?
Western civilization's foundational thinking software was created by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle 2400 years ago.
Creative thinking is not just about talent; it is a skill that can be developed.
Creativity is not about passive inspiration, like sitting by a river listening to music, but involves active skill-building.
China, 2000 years ago, was ahead in science and technology, with innovations like rockets and gunpowder.
China's scholars believed in moving from certainty to certainty, stifling creativity and progress.
Creativity requires ideas to have value; simply being different is not true creativity.
Creating a triangular door just for the sake of difference, without added value, is not creativity.
Fear of failure prevents many people from being creative, as failures are labeled as mistakes.
English lacks a word for a fully justified venture that fails due to circumstances beyond control.
Provocation is a tool in lateral thinking, which contrasts with logical thinking by allowing ideas with no initial reasoning.
Lateral thinking involves moving from a main pattern to a side pattern to generate new ideas.
Thinking outside the box means escaping from constraints and developing ideas not expected in normal behavior.
Creativity means changing concepts, perceptions, constraints, and rules to develop new ideas.
In hindsight, lateral thinking allows linking back to the starting point, even if the initial step seemed unrelated.
Transcripts
if we look at the human brain as a
computer we then have to ask what is the
software we use with that computer well
in general the software at least of
Western civilization was originally
designed 2400 Years Ago by the Greek
gang of three the gg3 who were of course
Socrates Plato Aristotle we've done
virtually nothing about thinking since
then creative thinking is a skill it's
not just a matter of individual Talent
it's not just a matter of sitting by the
river and playing barck music and hoping
you get inspired that's very weak
stuff 2,000 years ago China was way
ahead of the western Science and
Technology
they had rockets and gunpowder and such
things what happened what happened the
scholars in China started to believe
that you could move from certainty to
certainty and as a result they never
developed the possibility system never
developed hypothesis speculation
imagination progress came to a dead
end one of the very important things
about creativity is that the new idea
the creative idea must have have value
far too many people who believe they are
creative think that just being different
for the sake of being different is
creative it is not and that is what gets
creativity a bad name so if you look at
a door and you said doors are normally
rectangular let's make a triangle at all
now unless you can show value for that
that is not creativity that is just
being different for the sake of being
different now one of the reasons people
are reluctant to be creative in general
is that if you try out an idea and it
doesn't work that is regarded as a
mistake now a big def deficiency in
language certainly in the English
language is we don't have a word which
says fully Justified Venture which for
reasons beyond your control did not
succeed so anything which did not
succeed is called a mistake and people
don't like mistakes because that stands
in the way of their promotion and their
career provocation is uh one of the
methods of lateral thinking one of the
tools of lateral thinking it is
completely contrary to the opposite of
our normal logical thinking in our
normal logical thinking you can only say
things which make sense which fit our
experience and fit in with what we've
said
before with a provocation there may not
be a reason for saying something until
after you have said it but because it
puts us down in a different position in
the pattering system it allows us to
open up new
ideas thinking outside the box means
thinking for unusual ideas being
creative the notion is that we are all
within a certain box which is formed by
the constraints by our expectations by
the concepts we use by the perceptions
we use and we play around in that box so
thinking outside the box means escaping
from breaking out of the box to change
Concepts change perceptions change
constraints change rules and develop new
ideas it really it means developing an
idea which would not have been expected
in our usual behavior in our usual
thinking so it's just another term for
creative thinking unusual thinking or
lateral thinking I prefer the term
lateral thinking because that is very
specifically defined in system terms
which means moving across from the main
pattern to a side pattern which once
you're there in hindsight you can link
up with your starting point but thing
outside the box is a general term
meaning unusual ideas ideas which would
not have Arisen within the box of your
usual thinking
Ver Más Videos Relacionados
How to Ask Better Questions | Mike Vaughan | TEDxMileHigh
Pikiran yang Sempit - Monolog Realitas Bersama Rocky Gerung
Edward de Bono 'How to have a beautiful mind' at Mind & Its Potential 2011
COMO CRIAR PRODUTOS "MÁGICOS" QUE VENDEM MILHÕES? Leandro Ladeira Explica | Hotmart FIRE 2024
असंभव कुछ नहीं | Impossible is Nothing | Sandeep Maheshwari
What is a Thought? How the Brain Creates New Ideas | Henning Beck | TEDxHHL
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)