Dr Edward de Bono at Creative Innovation 2010 - "Re-thinking the future"
Summary
TLDREdward de Bono discusses how poor thinking, not climate change, is the biggest problem facing humanity. He explains that our brains are designed to form routine patterns, making them less effective at creative thinking. De Bono critiques the historical reliance on logic and argumentation, especially by institutions like the church, and highlights the need for more value-creating, design-oriented thinking. He suggests integrating design projects into education and employing techniques like challenge, concept extraction, and provocation to foster creativity. He concludes by advocating for a 'Palace of Thinking' to generate innovative solutions for global issues.
Takeaways
- 🧠 The biggest problem facing humanity is not climate change, but poor thinking.
- 🤔 People are unaware that their thinking is not as good as they believe it to be.
- 🔄 The brain is designed to form and follow patterns, which is efficient but can limit creativity.
- 🩺 Most thinking involves recognizing patterns and applying standard solutions, which works well but isn't enough.
- 🏛️ Greek logic and the Church's influence have shaped a thinking system focused on truth and logic, but it lacks creativity and value creation.
- 💡 Creativity involves breaking away from established patterns to create new possibilities, which is often neglected culturally.
- 👨🏫 Education should focus more on creativity and design, encouraging students to engage in weekly design projects.
- ⚡ Techniques like challenge, concept extraction, provocation, and random word generation can help break away from traditional thinking.
- 🛠️ These techniques for creative thinking can be learned and applied deliberately; they are not magical or mysterious.
- 🌍 De Bono advocates for a 'palace of thinking' to collect and promote new ideas and solve world problems with creative meetings.
Q & A
What does Edward de Bono identify as the biggest problem facing humanity?
-Edward de Bono argues that the biggest problem facing humanity is poor thinking, not climate change. He emphasizes that most people don't realize how flawed their thinking is.
Why does Edward de Bono believe that the brain is designed to form patterns?
-De Bono explains that the brain is designed to allow incoming information to organize itself into routine patterns, which helps us function efficiently in daily life without constantly analyzing every decision.
What does de Bono mean by the term 'Abner'?
-The term 'Abner' coined by de Bono means 'excellent but not enough.' It highlights that while existing thinking systems may be effective, they often fall short in areas like creativity and design.
Why does Edward de Bono think traditional thinking methods are not enough?
-De Bono believes traditional thinking is effective at analyzing and solving standard problems but fails when it comes to creating new possibilities and generating innovative solutions.
What role does creativity play in thinking, according to de Bono?
-De Bono emphasizes that creativity allows for new ideas by breaking away from established patterns. It’s about finding novel connections between concepts, much like how humor works by making unexpected, yet logical, jumps.
How does Edward de Bono view the thinking system developed by the church during the Renaissance?
-De Bono argues that the thinking system developed by the church focused on truth, logic, and argument to support dogma, which stifled the need for creative and perceptual thinking. This legacy has limited our capacity for creative problem-solving.
What example does de Bono give to demonstrate the power of challenging conventional thinking?
-De Bono mentions how in the 1970s, he challenged the conventional method of drilling oil wells vertically. By proposing horizontal drilling, a technique that became widely adopted, oil companies could extract three to six times more oil from a single well.
What is the purpose of the 'Six Thinking Hats' method?
-The 'Six Thinking Hats' method, developed by de Bono, is a tool for parallel thinking. It allows individuals or groups to explore different perspectives on a problem simultaneously, rather than through argument, which traditionally pits one idea against another.
What is Edward de Bono's proposed solution to improve global thinking?
-De Bono suggests creating a 'Palace of Thinking,' where new ideas can be collected, promoted, and developed. The palace would also host creative meetings to address global issues and generate new solutions for world problems.
How does Edward de Bono distinguish between errors in logic and errors in perception?
-De Bono highlights that most thinking errors (90%) are not due to faulty logic but rather poor perception. This distinction is important because even flawless logic can't compensate for flawed perceptions in decision-making.
Outlines
🧠 The Problem of Poor Thinking
Edward de Bono begins by challenging the common belief that climate change is humanity’s biggest problem. Instead, he argues that poor thinking is a more significant issue, and even worse, people fail to realize the limitations of their thinking. He explains how the brain works by forming patterns, which allow people to perform routine tasks without actively thinking through them, like getting dressed. De Bono recounts how he described this mechanism in his 1969 book *The Mechanism of Mind*, which gained support from leading physicists.
🌍 The Evolution of Thought and Its Limitations
De Bono contrasts the thinking developed in Western culture, particularly through the influence of the church, which focused on logic and argument to prove heretics wrong. This system, while excellent for finding truth in science and technology, lacks in fostering creativity and innovation. He highlights that culturally, societies have failed to develop thinking systems for creating value. Most errors in thinking arise from faulty perceptions, not logic. De Bono coined the term 'Abner,' meaning excellent but not enough, to describe this gap in human thinking.
🔄 Creative Thinking and the Importance of Design
De Bono emphasizes the need to teach creativity and design thinking, explaining that traditional thought systems are excellent for analyzing existing situations but not for creating new possibilities. He shares examples of creative solutions, such as a child’s inventive dog exercise machine, to demonstrate how design is an essential but neglected part of thinking. He explains that creativity involves breaking away from existing patterns and structures, and suggests that every child should engage in weekly design projects to foster these skills.
🔥 Humor, Creativity, and Pattern-Breaking
De Bono discusses the role of humor as a significant behavior of the human mind, which is based on asymmetric patterns—moving from one point to another in unexpected ways. He uses jokes and anecdotes to explain how both humor and creativity involve breaking conventional thought patterns and arriving at surprising, yet logical conclusions. De Bono introduces different creative techniques like 'challenge,' 'concept extraction,' and 'provocation,' which are designed to disrupt habitual thinking and generate new ideas.
🌐 Practical Applications of Creative Techniques
In this paragraph, De Bono elaborates on how creative thinking techniques can solve real-world problems. For example, he describes challenging the traditional approach to drilling oil wells, which led to a new method of horizontal drilling that is now widely used. He also recounts how a provocation about factories downstream of themselves inspired new legislation to reduce water pollution. De Bono emphasizes that these creative processes are not mystical but can be formally learned and applied to generate innovative solutions.
💡 The Need for New Thinking in Global Issues
De Bono concludes by stressing the need for structured creative thinking to address global problems. He recalls an attempt to establish a group at the United Nations for generating new ideas, which failed due to the reluctance of representatives to think outside of their national interests. He proposes the creation of a 'Palace of Thinking' to promote innovative ideas and foster discussions on world issues. De Bono believes that improving thinking systems is essential for addressing complex challenges like climate change.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Creative Thinking
💡Pattern Recognition
💡Logic
💡Perception
💡Design Thinking
💡Challenge
💡Provocation
💡Six Thinking Hats
💡Cultural Thinking Limitations
💡Humor
Highlights
Edward de Bono emphasizes that poor thinking is the biggest problem humanity faces, not climate change.
The brain organizes incoming information into patterns, which is essential for survival and language processing.
De Bono explains that 96% of thinking is about analyzing situations and applying standard answers, which is effective but not sufficient.
The Greek thinking system that developed during the Renaissance focused on logic, truth, and argument, largely shaped by the church.
De Bono introduces the term 'Abner,' which means 'excellent but not enough,' illustrating the limitations of existing thinking models.
Culturally, education has not prioritized thinking for creating value, which limits creativity and design capabilities.
He argues that while logic is important, perception plays a bigger role in thinking errors—90% of errors are perception-based.
Humor arises from the asymmetry of patterns, and this same asymmetric thinking is a key driver in creativity.
Creative thinking involves shifting from one pattern to another, making the process logical in hindsight but unexpected initially.
De Bono presents the idea of 'challenge,' which involves temporarily blocking an idea to explore alternative solutions.
He shares the example of horizontal drilling, which became a breakthrough in the oil industry after challenging the traditional vertical drilling approach.
De Bono discusses concept extraction, using the 'headlight parking' example to demonstrate how a simple concept shift can solve problems creatively.
Provocation, another method, allows you to state something completely wrong in order to generate creative solutions, as seen in the river pollution example.
He advocates for parallel thinking over argument, using his 'six thinking hats' method as a structured approach to problem-solving.
De Bono proposes the creation of a 'Palace of Thinking' to collect and promote innovative ideas and hold creative meetings to address global issues.
Transcripts
Edward de Bono is genuinely a man who
needs no a little introduction one of
the world's leading authorities on
creative thinking so without further ado
over to you Edward most of you will have
been persuaded or informed let's say
that climate change is the biggest
problem facing humanity that's not true
the biggest problem is our poor thinking
now there's only one problem bigger than
that which is that we don't realize that
our thinking is not as good as we
believed it to be now why is that so
there are a number of reasons the first
reason is how the mind actually works
one day a fella gets up in the morning
and he has eleven piece of clothing to
put on so he sets his computer to work
out in how many ways could get dressed
computer takes 40 hours non-stop
processing that's not surprising because
11 pieces of clothing you actually have
39 million nine hundred and sixteen
thousand eight hundred ways we getting
dressed the maths are very simple it's
eleven times ten times nine times eight
and so on if you were to try one way
every minute of your waking life you
need to live to be 76 years old doing
nothing else at all except trying ways
of getting dressed
now that wouldn't be very convenient
fortunately for us the brain doesn't
work like that the brain is designed and
the the whole purpose of the brain is
designed to allow incoming information
to organize itself as routine patterns
that is the purpose for the brain so we
set up the pattern we recognize that
this is a getting-up pattern and we just
go through it and that's how we manage
to survive in life that is how language
works because language will have a word
and a word opens up a pattern and that
is excellent and so on
I describe this all in 1969 in a book
called the mechanism of mind the leading
physicists in the world professor Mario
got a man who got his Nobel Prize for
discovering the quark read the book was
very enthusiastic he commissioned a team
of computer programmers to simulate what
have said in the book and said yes it
works exactly as you predict and he's
been a great supporter ever since so
that's the way the brain works forming
patterns using patterns then let's look
at another aspect imagine a doctor and a
clinic and the patient comes in the
doctor takes the history examines the
patient does some tests what is the
doctor trying to do the doctor is trying
to identify a standard illness a
standard situation and once you identify
the standard situation you provide the
standard treatment and I would say 96%
of all are thinking of that sort analyze
the situation identify what it is what
is made up of and then apply the
standard answer now I'm wrong with that
it's highly effective but it's not quite
enough then we come to another reason
which goes back to the history
history of a human race
now when Greek thinking came into Europe
at the time of the Renaissance schools
universities and thinking when the hands
of the church the church did not need
creative thinking the church did not
need design thinking the church did not
need perceptual thinking what the church
did need was truth logic and argument
with which to prove heretics wrong
so we developed a very good thinking
system very good thinking system for
finding the truth and that has stood us
very well indeed in science technology
and so on what we have never done
culturally we have never developed
thinking for creating value to be sure
individuals innovators inventors
entrepreneurs have done that but
culturally it's not there in education
thinking for creating value that's a big
difference in fact it was even worse for
the church because when the church was
arguing
when the church was arguing it would
start with certain dogmas certain
articles of faith our goddess of Lipitor
and so on and if you start with fixed
positions logic is indeed sufficient to
reach a conclusion but in real life we
do not start with fixed positions in
real light we start with perceptions and
no matter how good your logic is if your
perception is an adequate or faulty the
answer will be rubbish and it research
at Harvard by a friend of mine David
Perkins shows that 90% of the errors of
thinking are not errors of logic at all
the errors of perception but this didn't
matter for the church because they
started with fixed dogma
so we developed thinking based on our
patterns routines logic and so on which
is excellent but not enough and that's
why some time ago and I mentioned it
yesterday I had to invent a new word the
new word is Abner Abner means excellent
but not enough
so suddenly maybe excellent but not
enough there may be a chef who cooks the
most fantastic omelette that is
excellent you can't say it's wrong but
it's not enough
so our existing thinking is excellent
but not enough it's raw like saying a
circular saws excellent for what it's
supposed to do but not very good for
cleaning your teeth in other words our
existing system is very good for looking
at looking at what is but not very good
for creating what can be which is where
creativity comes in so culturally we've
never done anything about that if you
stopped from fixed positions to find so
we need to develop or not develop add
because I listen things excellent but we
need to add the ability to design and to
create design is very basic design means
putting together what you have to
deliver the values you want and I
believe that school every child every
week should have a design project
whatever it is and working it I used to
run I think I mentioned yesterday a
design program in an education magazine
and would set a task every week and the
children would make a drawing using
drawings always of designs and one of
the exercises was the dog exercising
machine and most of the youngsters would
have a treadmill and the dog running on
the treadmill and a bone hanging at the
end to motivate the dog but one child
age for the different ideal his dog was
touring by means with string harness
little trolley and on the trolley was a
car battery from which emerged an
electrified prong
and he said if the dog stops the trolley
will run into Megan go again
everyone else was trying to make the dog
exercise this kids that know let's
prevent him stopping and design a very
key part of thinking very neglected so
we have excellent thinking but not for
design not for creativity there's no
magic about creativity the brain for
creative thinking the brain forms
patterns now all patterns are as
symmetric what does that mean it means
you go from A to B but you can also go
from C to a but not from A to C that's
as symmetry of patterns all patent
systems are symmetric now that gives
rise to humor which is by far the most
significant behavior of the human mind
reason is not particularly significant
any sorting system run backwards as a
reasoning system humor depends on a
symmetric patterns you go along here you
get taken here it makes sense typical
example I use is old man of 90 dies goes
down to hell he sees a friend of his
also age 19 sitting there with a
beautiful young blonde sitting on his
name say it says to his friend are you
sure this is hell because you seem to be
having rather a good time the friend
looks up says no he says it's hella
right is that I am the punishment for
her
you know is once you make the jump
totally logical
another example typical blonde joke
blonde finds a sold bottle takes the top
off out comes the genie dresses a belly
dancer and says to the blonde you have
released me after hundreds of years in
the bottle I was grown to one of three
wishes you'd be very rich very wise or
great belly dancer that any hesitation
that blonde says I want to be very wise
next days having lunch with her friends
she says you know today I'm so wise I
realize I made the worst of three
possible choices now exactly the same
process happens with creativity
creativity we're here we'll get taken
here once with an hindsight totally
logical and value in hand side there's
nothing mysterious not magical about it
that various techniques for doing it it
is very very quickly mention them
one of them is very simple you're going
along and you put a block on that we
call that challenge challenge is never
an attack challenge says this is an
excellent idea maybe the best idea maybe
the only idea but for the moment are
going to put a block on it and as a
result start looking else well do an
example 1970s doing work for shale oil
in London and I said when a drill an oil
well you drill an oil well straight down
and have done so for eight years
no problem very satisfactory works well
that's let's challenge that instead of
drilling the wells straight down why not
go down to the oil seam and go
horizontally they said we can't do that
the drill won't go round the corner I
said yes it will if you is a hydraulic
head you pull it round today or almost
every or will is drilled like that
because you get between six and three
times as much oil from this oil well as
from that oil well indeed start all in
Norway has one well going ten kilometres
horizontally but for 80 years everyone
is very happy with that because it
worked wasn't the problem didn't he
thinking about so challenge then there's
concept extraction where we're going
along and we go back and say what is the
concept behind this can we find another
way of the concept example here mayor of
a small town here in Australia said
we've got a problem with commuters they
drive into the town leave their cars
parked there all day
no one can park in order to shop should
we put in parking meters that's
expensive to install them attain as to
what's the concept the concept is to
allow people to realize that their
parking is limited as a way you could do
it in a much simpler way you can park
any way like for as long as you like
provided you leave your headlights full
on
now I'm not going to leave your car
there for one minute longer than you
need to busy run your battery flat so
certain parts of town you just have a
notice saying only headlight parking
here then then there's provocation
provocation really upsets philosophers
and logicians because provocation allows
you to say something which you know is
totally wrong
we call it provocation and then you use
what I call movement to move there once
you're there it makes sense
I give you very simple example one time
I was talking to the California ecology
department about five hundred people and
they said we have a problem with rivers
river flow this way factory puts out
pollution people downstream suffer so as
a provocation I said po the factories
downstream of itself sounds pretty
impossible how can we be here and here
at the same time from it comes a very
simple idea which is that normally you
take in your water and you put out your
pollution we legislate that if you build
a factory on the river your input must
always be downstream of your own output
so you're the first to get your
pollution that is now legislation in 13
countries around the world very obvious
take Warren care and what you put out
because you are going to be the first to
use it then there's another process
that's the last one I didn't mention
which is that if instead of starting
here you start somewhere else you
increase the chance of hitting that
track and use it you cannot choose that
point because it would lie along a
normal thinking so you use chance and
the simplest way is a random word
usually now again that upsets logicians
would say if it's any word and any
subject how can it possibly work but in
the patent system it does work one time
one of my trainers in South Africa
setting up a workshop one afternoon for
a steel company is called just using
this technique they generated 21,000 new
ideas in one afternoon
all these processes can be learnt
applied use quite formally quite
deliberately there's no magic there's no
mysteriousness about them so we can
develop additional habits of thinking
not instead of what we do but in
addition to what we do to generate ideas
one final point again for 2,400 years
we've used argument a always would be
parallel thinking means a and B are
looking the same direction at the same
time but the directions change and for
that we have the six different hats and
so on which is now very very widely used
lost I was told by a Nobel Prize
economist he said lost we cousin wasn't
in the top economics meeting they were
using oh six hats the one final point I
want to make and I'll stop many years
ago at the United Nations I tried to set
up a group to provide some additional
ideas and had various meetings Kofi
Annan when he was Secretary General was
at some of the meetings proved
absolutely impossible they said we're
not here to think we're here to
represent our countries not to think so
that's not going to happen
so someone the world there needs to be a
source for new thinking new ideas so my
project is to set up a palace of
thinking could be here in Australia
which would have two functions
one is to provide a platform to collect
ideas from anywhere and promote the
better ones and secondly to set up
specific creative meetings to look at
world issues world problems in other
words our existing thinking is good for
recognizing past and standard situation
not good for designing new possibilities
so that's why I say that our thinking
the limits of our thing are the biggest
problem faced in the world and if we
improve that we might improve our way of
dealing with climate change thank
you
関連動画をさらに表示
Edward de Bono 'How to have a beautiful mind' at Mind & Its Potential 2011
Critical Thinking - Use Independent Thinking To Build A Powerful Life
How to be a creative thinker | Carnegie Mellon University Po-Shen Loh
Rem Koolhaas at Work
Think Small to Solve Big Problems, with Stephen Dubner | Big Think
Design and Technologies: what are they for?
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