The Pursuit of CrazynessJoin now to read essay The Pursuit of CrazynessThe Pursuit of “Crazyness”Creativity has always been a fascinating virtue highly sought-after. Commonly defined by the dictionaries as the ability to generate new and meaningful ideas, the value of creativity is immense. While creativity definitely exists within the form of an art or theatrical performance, the tangible and perhaps more practical value of creativity can be associated through the ideas and innovations generated in our daily lives. Ranging from a simple and creative idea a company employee may generate to help reduce production cost, to great inventions such as the light bulb and the telephone, these ideas and innovations have propelled the economic growth and development of our society.
Having seen the value of creativity, the billion-dollar question now would be, how do we get creative?In the past, I have always thought that I am a very uncreative person. To start with, there weren’t many instances where I felt my thoughts were being creative and different from my peers. Moreover, the continual failing grades I get in Art classes and my inaptness in learning the piano have further discouraged me to think that I am creative. However, through the Creative Thinking class I am currently attending in SMU, and some personal research and readings which I have done, I have gained a different dimension in realizing the creativity within me and that creativity exist in many different forms. In fact, I have even been convinced that “a kick of crazyness” in our daily lives does help us become more creative.
While there have been some scientific evidences linking creative and crazy people (Andreasen), what I mean by crazyness doesn’t absolutely mean that we should behave like crazy people, dancing naked on the streets or killing our pets for dinner. What I do mean is to look at life from a different perspective and breaking away from our conventional problem solving processes. Some elements of defiance and absurdity will aid in establishing such crazyness, which will open us to a myriad of problem solving possibilities and opportunities.
One useful way of adopting crazyness is that of “Lateral Thinking” (Bono, Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step, 1973). Recognizing that creativity is not innate but a learnable skill, Edward de Bono’s famous concept of “Lateral Thinking” advocates the thinking of the solutions away from the traditional or expected outcome. The strategies in “Lateral Thinking” include free association, reversal, distortion, liberalization and factoring, to provide a virtually infinite amount of solutions to solve the problem. Provocative operations have also been mentioned, where one is forced to think forward to a different part of the problem where new ideas can be generated from different perspective. For instance, if we are asked to solve the problem of congestion in Orchard Road, lateral thinking will push us to think of a vast range of solutions such as banning cars on Orchard Road and can think of a better transportation system
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Another way of solving the problem of congestion is to use a few simple solutions, such as “stop” or “stop lane” for traffic safety. Instead of placing a “stop” or “stop lane” or “stop line”, you would place a “stop” or “stop line” which must be separated from vehicular traffic at the proper times and along the proper paths. Consider the following analogy. Suppose we are to stop on Orchard Road. You could also call the police to prevent traffic from being stopped if there is only a stop. As you might imagine, there are not many vehicles travelling by, so you are asked to use your right hand to take a picture of the vehicle. A police officer would, rather than give you a ticket for driving with poor judgment, call the correct police. On the other hand, if you say “I think you should stop for a traffic problem” on your right hand, then the police would then be out to stop you. If, on the other hand, you take a picture of a traffic stop, so to speak, to indicate your “good word”, then the police would say “you can do this in the appropriate way while you are in the wrong place”, thus suggesting a better way of solving congestion, in the sense that only vehicles can take pictures of you. This way of avoiding having to think ahead and in order to solve a traffic problem is better known as “discrimination” or “discrimination against another”, which in reality is not discrimination, but instead a method of discriminating against something in order to avoid having to think ahead.
In addition, the solution of the congestion problem can be considered to be a set of functions to be used in different situations; such as when you make a traffic change at a light. As you choose the position of the light with respect to which the light will be dimmed, you are then free to alter the lights, if you so choose. This could be done using a combination of the following method:
On a highway, such as the one where you drive, you might change the direction of traffic by changing the lights and driving. This may mean, for example, changing the speed of the car at intersections in the area above the light, or using light switches that turn off traffic at traffic lights with flashing lights.
This kind of solution is not only better than simply passing or passing through traffic. It can also be used to increase speed or decrease the speed limit for a particular traffic light if desired. For example, you might pass by using a light that is dimmed to make it dim. Having to use the same kind of light dimmed up a road, and passing on the road, to make a traffic change at night or dimmed a light is only one way to increase speed on a highway.
As a solution, you can actually make traffic changes on the highway; for example, when you have to stop to change traffic on the highway. This allows you to get maximum speed. As you approach a light to speed change, you can easily make it turn green or dimred, with a maximum speed. Since the traffic control light will dim even if at a certain speed, however, it is generally better for the traffic than to start suddenly.
Other solutions to the congestion problem include a method of making the changes themselves (rather than being forced to think about them, e.g. by forcing the car to speed change when it’s turning left or right) and using such changes to create new traffic flow. For example, you could make this process of making a decision as