h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's rare to read an article and discover true inspiration, but it does happen on the Guide.
I'll look up more materials of this kind and perhaps even try to apply it to my own daily life. Considering that I am a teacher, this may cause some strange results.
And then again?

Teaching based on the principles of parachuting? Fencing? (That's done regularly!) Housebuilding?
Hey, what started as a joking line turned itself into a think-tank.

Neat!

-KimotoCat

But as a teacher, please don't just apply the ideas to what you do.
Let the pupils use the ideas. Children (the younger the better) are great at latteral thinking, because they don't have any ideas about what is a right or wrong answer to a problem. Perhaps all of this is just a more formalised (and re-learnt) way of thinking like that.

How about reverseing your situation, to see what could be learnt from the principles of (to use your ideas) parachuting, fencing or housebuilding...

I agree. There's some great ideas in lateral thinking, but the concepts can be abused. Not long ago, I lost a job at a magazine. When sacking me, the editor told me "you haven't got a lateral thinking bone in your body".
The problem was that his idea of "lateral thinking" was to print outright lies if the truth was boring.

There's a wonderful and quite famous telly-show that uses lateral thinking constantly: Monty Python; Terry Gilliam's links are pure lateral thinking.

I only wish this method worked with computer software; I'm brilliant at lateral thinking and forcing myself to think logically (for coding, for instance) hurts a great deal.

Fruitbat

The problem with lateral thinking is that many people consider it to be anything but a briliant method and use far less flattering words to describe the process.

Lazy, stupid, unfocused...

Know what I mean?

Time for a general re-education then, especially if it's some people that you work with. I guess the standard thing is how many things can you do with a paper clip (1 minute max) to see who comes out with the most outlandish ideas, then follow them up.
As I said ealier I like to think of these ideas as formalised childrens thought (OK I'm not a psychologist and don't know if this is the right point to start with) as after seeing my sisters children grow up and hearing some of the explanations they come up with, which are plausible when you consider their starting point of not knowing what can/cannot be done.
It's a way of trying to express creativity without limmitations (at least to start with) to produce ideas which might or might not work -they have to at least be tested. eg ask a musician to design how a computer should work and I'm sure you'd get something different to me typing on a keyboard designed to slow people down.

I may quote you in class...

Thanks. K/K

Well I think that you can do whatever with the information.
If it makes sense, good, if you can come up with ideas of your own to explain it better, then more good

I'll think about that. And perhaps combine it with something on the basics in self-defence and tax-laws. Seriously!

Thanks again - K/K

It seems one of the biggest problems is that people have too many preconceived notions about how things work. Take the classic computer crux, mac people vs. pc people. Mac people are generally more creative, and see their technology as an aid to their own particualr way of doing things. Pc people are more likely to speak of power and features. American society has conditioned us to accept the 'fact' that more power/speed/whatever is better than less. The mac people will tell you that that is not so. Whatever gets the job done most efficiently is the best way. The book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintence put it best, when describing instructional manuals. There are innumerable ways to do things... the way that gets into the manual is one particular way that worked for one particular person. This is why so many people have 12:00 blinking on their VCR's. We would all benefit from being encouraged to be original.

Originality is a very good thing.

However, being the original also makes one stand out and this can be good or bad, depending on the forum where it happens. The original type in school may be considered cool, but he may also be considered a nerd or worse. At work, he may be a good and helpful colleague, but he may also be considered sucking up to the boss. And so forth.
But it's rewarding when it succeeds to be the one with an original idea, concept or plan. The world boasts many such people whose names are written in the history books.

I know all too well what you mean. 'Dreaming' is another label that's often applied and actively discouraged by those that want to deal with realities instead of possibilities or potentialities. That's not a problem with lateral thinking, that's a problem with the perceptions of those that are extremely logical and expect everyone else to think the same way....which has led to far too many dead ends and lost ideas. If more people thought laterally they might be able to see that which is only blindingly obvious afterwards.

My thinking style puts me ahead of most, and then I'm waiting for yonks for everyone else to catch up to where I am....I'm lonely at the top.

Fruitbat

Well... As the saying goes, without anybody to think original, we would still be climbing trees (like our monkey-forefathers). Heck, we probably wouldn't have left the sea in the first place.