today's age of new technologies, we do not have to be restricted to the methods available to the ancient
Greeks, who created democracy. There could even be an ongoing assessment of each member of parliament by their constituents, and their vote in the chamber would reflect this assessment. So if someone got a 50 per cent rating, he would have half a vote in the chamber. A 20 per cent rating would mean only a fifth of the vote. Technically this is possible today.
SUMMARY: DEMOCRACY
Creativity is not only involved in changing ideas and processes that are in use, such as democracy. Creativity can be involved in designing completely new things that take advantage of changes in technology, etc. With Facebook, YouTube, eBay, etc., the Internet has given some people the opportunity to design new programmes.
So creativity in design may involve getting rid of problems and inconveniences. Creativity in design may reduce price or increase longevity of the product.
And creativity in design may involve putting together familiar ingredients in a new way – just like creating a new dish from traditional ingredients.
Democracy is designed to keep society stable and to protect it from tyranny. It is not designed for progress. More thinking is needed.
7Universities
As I mentioned before, I have been to a number of universities (Malta, Oxford, London, Cambridge, Harvard) as an undergraduate, a postgraduate and in a teaching post. I also have a collection of degrees (BSc, MD, MA, DPhil, PhD, DDes, LLD). Four of these were earned, and the others were honoris causa.
I have a great respect for universities, but the theme of much of this book applies to them as well: 'Excellent but not enough.' In other words, universities are excellent at the game they have come to play, but this game is not enough.Being blocked by excellence is always the danger.
TRUTH, KNOWLEDGE AND SCHOLARSHIP
An obsession with the truth can hardly be criticised as wrong. But this obsession can prevent development of the
mentally important role of speculation and possibility. When the world was full of speculation and fantasy, this obsession with the truth served society very well. Today the world is not so full of fantasy, and attention to possibility has become rather more important.
The original purpose of universities was to bring the wisdom of ages and make it available to students of the present. Thatrole of scholarship is still performed very well. It is, however, not enough.
When as an undergraduate I was reading psychology at Oxford, I found that it was all about the history of psychology. There was very little consideration of currentconcerns, speculations, problems or practical points. It was enough to know that someone had proposed an idea in 1850, and then in 1922 there was another theory, and so on.
At Harvard I was interested in the control of blood pressure in the human body. I found it more useful to discuss matters with the Professor of Aeronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), because he was interested in systems behaviour, whereas Harvard had this scholarship attitude to historic events and ideas.
I had had an operation and was unable to attend an international conference on thinking. So I had a long conversation on the telephone with a friend of mine, Professor DavidPerkins of Harvard University, and this was broadcast to the participants.
I remember his frequent emphasis on 'understanding'.
If we have knowledge we have understanding, and from that we can proceed to action. Of course, I agree with this. But understanding is not itself enough. We also need frameworks of possibility in order to make progress.
I admit that it is not easy to keep an ultimate concern with the truth and yet to open up creativity and possibility as well, but it is necessary.
THINKING
Because of the concern with the truth, universities have had to concentrate on critical thinking. Once again this is excellent but not enough. Creative thinking,
Greeks, who created democracy. There could even be an ongoing assessment of each member of parliament by their constituents, and their vote in the chamber would reflect this assessment. So if someone got a 50 per cent rating, he would have half a vote in the chamber. A 20 per cent rating would mean only a fifth of the vote. Technically this is possible today.
SUMMARY: DEMOCRACY
Creativity is not only involved in changing ideas and processes that are in use, such as democracy. Creativity can be involved in designing completely new things that take advantage of changes in technology, etc. With Facebook, YouTube, eBay, etc., the Internet has given some people the opportunity to design new programmes.
So creativity in design may involve getting rid of problems and inconveniences. Creativity in design may reduce price or increase longevity of the product.
And creativity in design may involve putting together familiar ingredients in a new way – just like creating a new dish from traditional ingredients.
Democracy is designed to keep society stable and to protect it from tyranny. It is not designed for progress. More thinking is needed.
7Universities
As I mentioned before, I have been to a number of universities (Malta, Oxford, London, Cambridge, Harvard) as an undergraduate, a postgraduate and in a teaching post. I also have a collection of degrees (BSc, MD, MA, DPhil, PhD, DDes, LLD). Four of these were earned, and the others were honoris causa.
I have a great respect for universities, but the theme of much of this book applies to them as well: 'Excellent but not enough.' In other words, universities are excellent at the game they have come to play, but this game is not enough.Being blocked by excellence is always the danger.
TRUTH, KNOWLEDGE AND SCHOLARSHIP
An obsession with the truth can hardly be criticised as wrong. But this obsession can prevent development of the
mentally important role of speculation and possibility. When the world was full of speculation and fantasy, this obsession with the truth served society very well. Today the world is not so full of fantasy, and attention to possibility has become rather more important.
The original purpose of universities was to bring the wisdom of ages and make it available to students of the present. Thatrole of scholarship is still performed very well. It is, however, not enough.
When as an undergraduate I was reading psychology at Oxford, I found that it was all about the history of psychology. There was very little consideration of currentconcerns, speculations, problems or practical points. It was enough to know that someone had proposed an idea in 1850, and then in 1922 there was another theory, and so on.
At Harvard I was interested in the control of blood pressure in the human body. I found it more useful to discuss matters with the Professor of Aeronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), because he was interested in systems behaviour, whereas Harvard had this scholarship attitude to historic events and ideas.
I had had an operation and was unable to attend an international conference on thinking. So I had a long conversation on the telephone with a friend of mine, Professor DavidPerkins of Harvard University, and this was broadcast to the participants.
I remember his frequent emphasis on 'understanding'.
If we have knowledge we have understanding, and from that we can proceed to action. Of course, I agree with this. But understanding is not itself enough. We also need frameworks of possibility in order to make progress.
I admit that it is not easy to keep an ultimate concern with the truth and yet to open up creativity and possibility as well, but it is necessary.
THINKING
Because of the concern with the truth, universities have had to concentrate on critical thinking. Once again this is excellent but not enough. Creative thinking,
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