Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
Resident parking only.

idea: add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, best, random

meta: news, help, about, links, report a problem

account: browse anonymously, or get an account and write.

user:
pass:
register,


                                                 

Linear Thinking Workshops

Teaching people to think *inside* the square.
  (+16, -1)(+16, -1)
(+16, -1)
  [vote for,
against]

It's all very well to have everyone thinking like Edward De Bono... until we all do it. Then we are going to need some plain-thinking, straight-talking individuals to get us all back on track. Otherwise we'll all be walking around with our Green Hats pulled down over our eyes.

// You would probably have chapters in the supporting material with titles like "C'est une pipe" and "Call a kneading trough a kneading trough".
There would also be lessons on trying to describe roses, mid-summer evenings and your loved one without using metaphors, allusions or poetic licence. Lecturers would include journalists who write for newspapers using restricted vocabularies, people who don't get abstract art and London cabbies. // - Aristotle, Sep 05 2001

(I have offered to go halves in this one with Aristotle, since he provided the title, following one of my annotations)

UnaBubba, Sep 05 2001

Teaching Aid http://www.halfbake...idea/In_20the_20box
[jutta, Sep 05 2001]


Please log in.
If you're not logged in, you can see what this page looks like, but you will not be able to add anything.



Annotation:







       You would probably have chapters in the supporting material with titles like "C'est une pipe" and "Call a kneading trough a kneading trough".   

       There would also be lessons on trying to describe roses, mid-summer evenings and your loved one without using metaphors, allusions or poetic licence. Lecturers would include journalists who write for newspapers using restricted vocabularies, people who don't get abstract art and London cabbies.
Aristotle, Sep 05 2001
  

       Coastal regions could also be taken more littorally.
Sorry, that's a crime now. I'll take that back.
UnaBubba, Sep 05 2001
  

       Well, okay, I concede that unless you can *recognize* a box, it's hard to tell whether you're in one our outside one -- and that sometimes In The Box is the right place to be, especially for novice thinkers who need reassuring limits. But then, the *real* novices can't think in 3-D yet, so they're simply left On Square One; if they're narrow-minded to boot, then all they know how to do is Toe The Line -- and if their thinking hardly goes anywhere in the first place, at least they have no trouble Getting To The Point.
whatsbruin, Sep 05 2001
  

       yeah...that helps alot....and you are how tall?
Susen, Sep 05 2001
  

       No taller than Ed DeBono, of course.
PotatoStew, Sep 05 2001
  

       Probably not such a bad point Peter.   

       Rods, that's amazing. I assumed I'd be the only 'baker to have actually met him. 5 or 6 years ago, we did some business with him.   

       Why thank you, whatsbruin. I assume you'll need to be able to tell time if you go the other direction?
UnaBubba, Sep 05 2001
  

       Literalism and linear thinking, though interdependent, are not synonymous. Each is useful as a tool for specifying the details of an issue, or as a launch pad to other styles of thought. Even so, I'd like the workshops to start with "Recognizing Square One: Lovely Place to Visit, Wouldn't Want to Live There."   

       [for Rod's Tiger] re: DeBono's F2F stature: Famous people always look shorter than their personae; I only notice how short they are if I already know how "big" they're supposed to be. (The more people try to emulate them, the "bigger" they are and the shorter they look.)   

       [for Steve DeGroof] re: "daydreaming in creative writing *class*": You too, eh? We could always call it research -- wish I'd been creative enough to do so...   

       [for UnaBubba]: You're quite welcome. And why do we perceive time as linear? Not all cultures do. Seems to me that much "linear" thinking depends on elliptical premises: a rose is a rose, a fact's a fact, the Aristotelian "A equals A," or any admonition to "call a spade a spade" (playing card? racial slur? garden implement? what?), etc.
whatsbruin, Sep 05 2001
  

       Ed DeBono is a tiny man in my book - Good Lord, he can't be but a few cm or in. tall.
I too was scolded for daydreaming in Creative Writing. "My imagination was taking flight Mr. Keeler. Now it's evaporated"
thumbwax, Sep 05 2001
  

       Croissant for you, UB. Add a lesson on electing a president, and I'll teach the thing myself.   

       Can we send graduates of the workshops to Critical Thinking Workshops? A lone linear statement is refreshing; but when expressed as part of a syllogism, it's absolutely beautiful.
1percent, Sep 05 2001
  

       There's a dangerous path you're advocating, 1percent. The leap from literal to lateral is a regressive one of just two vowels.   

       I don't think the proletariat is prepared for that much subversion just yet, Comrade Snowflake.
UnaBubba, Sep 05 2001
  

       "OK now people. Welcome to Linear Thinking 101. Our first speaker goes by the name of Peter Sealy. He is going to talk a little bit about the cornerstone of unabashedly boring and conservative thinking: pedantry..."
sdm, Sep 05 2001
  

       You wouldnt want your dentist or an aircraft mechanic to be thinking ouside the box - the last thing you want is a creative airline mechanic. There are some people who need to keep their feet on the ground - this course is a great idea.
salimf, Sep 06 2001
  

       Would Linear Thinking 101 have a complementary course, Circular Reasoning 101?
Guy Fox, Sep 06 2001
  

       Baked. Universities and night schools would have to start Descriptive Writing classes. And Specification 101.
serendipity, Sep 06 2001, last modified Sep 07 2001
  

       re: "wouldn't want a creative airline mechanic," it depends on the context (say, the mechanic is deadheading on a flight to a different facility and Something Goes Wrong...). It also depends on the type of creativity ("if I were a fuel system, where would I hide that wrench somebody dropped ...?" ).   

       I have to agree that a carefully crafted syllogism that manages to escape tautology *is* beautiful; it's a form of enlightenment and evidence of focused mastery.
whatsbruin, Sep 06 2001
  

       One of the highlights of your course with us here at the University of Flat Earth will be a dual semester core course known as Comparative Reasoning 202/203. In this course you will learn that many things you take for granted, such as gravity are simply constructs of the human mind. Let me give you a little example of the processes of thought espoused by the lecturer, Herr Professor-Doktor Vernon, and I quote from his course notes for last year.   

       "Tomatoes will kill you... if you have ever eaten tomatoes then you should bear this sobering thought in mind. Of all of the people who ate tomatoes in 1858, there are none alive today. Futher to that, no-one who ate tomatoes on the Titanic is around to tell the tale. It has been found, following intensive research, that the captains, engineers and navigators of airliners which have crashed all consumed tomatoes in the 14 day period immediately prior to the crash. The conclusion is therefore inescapable. Tomatoes are an insidious killer. There must be something done by governments the world over to eradicate these dangerous fruit from the planet."   

       As you can see, this course is one not be taken lightly. The core premise of the course is the willingness to challenge the misguided orthodoxy of the day... to learn to thumb your nose at the trendy, liberal, self-determinist claptrap masquerading as science out there in the community. At UFE we are proud to look back upon our record. We have conservative think tanks around the world clamouring for our views on subjects as diverse as stem-cell research to the existence of lone gunmen. There can be no greater honour for you, as young conservatives starting out on your career as knee-jerk reactionary bluebloods, than to follow in the footsteps of many of the great political figures of our time. Members of the Taliban, African dictators and progressive thinkers everywhere have benefitted from our research on the subject of thinking. Be proud that our, soon to be your, way of thinking was around before Copernicus, Newton and Galileo... this is a proud tradition you inherit. Good luck and godspeed.
UnaBubba, Sep 06 2001
  

       There seems to be so much scattershot non-thinking going on (at least in the USA) around subjects like UFOs and psychics and similar garbage that training in laying out a linear string of related concepts would be a goddamned breath of fresh air.
Dog Ed, Sep 07 2001
  

       I would say that this is somewhat baked (slightly crispy at the very least) in that, most philosophy courses start with an introduction to logical thinking.

'All politicians are liars'
'All governments are run by politicians'
Therefore, I was kidnapped by aliens last Tuesday.
DrBob, Sep 07 2001
  

       You too huh?
UnaBubba, Sep 07 2001
  

       Linear Thinking Workshop Day #1

After dividing up into teams you're given a selection of carpentry supplies and wood and told to build a bridge over a stream with them. None of the bits of wood is quite long enough to span the stream on its own. Putting the Linear Thinking skills you have learned into practice, you nail all the bits of wood together with a good squirt of wood glue, just to be sure.
hippo, Sep 10 2001
  

       I've just realised... linear thinking could also be tangential thinking. Still technically a straight line, but not in the direction we imagine.   

       Is it possible this is what drives the doomsayers? They are very linear, we just assume they're lateral because of our frame of reference.
UnaBubba, Dec 01 2001
  

       Upon receiving a degree of Philospher of Dogma (PhD) at commencement, a ULT valedictorian stated, "I think we all deserve this meritorious finish, because none could have learned this alone."
reensure, Dec 01 2001
  

       Surely there's more than just this to learn?
UnaBubba, Dec 02 2001
  


 

back: main index

business  computer  culture  fashion  food  halfbakery  home  other  product  public  science  sport  vehicle