THE POWER OF LATERAL THINKING
When the Americans started their space exploration program, they faced a peculiar problem. The ordinary pen could not be used in the space because of lack of gravitational pull. So they spent around 10 million dollars to invent a pen that could be used at space, under the water etc. The time taken by Americans to invent this “wonder pen” was around five years.
The Russians at that time were also doing some space exploration and they faced the same problem as encountered by the Americans (lack of suitable pen to write in space). But they did not try to invent any so called “wonder pen”. They adopted another approach. Guess what they did?
The answer is very simple. THEY USED A PENCIL. That is what we call LATERAL THINKING or right brain thinking. So let us start using our right brain right now.
Regards
Sundarjayram
From India, Bhubaneswar
8When the Americans started their space exploration program, they faced a peculiar problem. The ordinary pen could not be used in the space because of lack of gravitational pull. So they spent around 10 million dollars to invent a pen that could be used at space, under the water etc. The time taken by Americans to invent this “wonder pen” was around five years.
The Russians at that time were also doing some space exploration and they faced the same problem as encountered by the Americans (lack of suitable pen to write in space). But they did not try to invent any so called “wonder pen”. They adopted another approach. Guess what they did?
The answer is very simple. THEY USED A PENCIL. That is what we call LATERAL THINKING or right brain thinking. So let us start using our right brain right now.
Regards
Sundarjayram
From India, Bhubaneswar
Hi Sundar,
Just wanted to add some on Lateral Thinking:
Lateral thinking is a term coined by Edward de Bono, a Maltese psychologist, physician and writer. It first appeared in the title of his book The Use of Lateral Thinking, published in 1967. De Bono defines lateral thinking as methods of thinking concerned with changing concepts and perception. Lateral thinking is about reasoning that is not immediately obvious and about ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic.
Techniques of lateral thinking
Techniques that apply lateral thinking to problems are characterised by the shifting of thinking patterns away from entrenched or predictable thinking to new or unexpected ideas. A new idea that is the result of lateral thinking is not always a helpful one, but when a good idea is discovered in this way it is usually obvious in hindsight, which is a feature lateral thinking shares with a joke.
Lateral Thinking and Problem Solving
Edward de Bono points out that the term problem solving implies that there is a problem to respond to and that it can be resolved. That eliminates situations where there is no problem or a problem exists that cannot be resolved. It is logical to think about making a good situation, that has no problems, into a better situation. Some times a problem cannot be solved by removing its cause.
We may need to solve problems not by removing the cause but by designing the way forward even if the cause remains in place. - (Edward de Bono)
Lateral thinking can be used to help in solving problems but can also be used for much more.
Example 1 of lateral thinking
It took two hours for two men to dig a hole five feet deep. How deep would it have been if ten men had dug the hole for two hours?..............
The answer appears to be 25 feet deep. This answer assumes that the thinker has followed a simple mathematical relationship suggested by the description given, but we can generate some lateral thinking ideas about what affects the size of the hole which may lead to different answers:
• A hole may need to be of a certain size or shape so digging might stop early at a required depth.
• The deeper a hole is, the more effort is required to dig it, since waste soil needs to be lifted higher to the ground level. There is a limit to how deep a hole can be dug by manpower without use of ladders or hoists for soil removal, and 25 feet is beyond this limit.
• Ten men would need more room to work side-by-side, and so may need to dig the hole wider rather than deeper. Each man digging needs space to use a shovel.
• Deeper soil layers may be harder to dig out, or we may hit bedrock or the water table.
• Are we digging in soil? Clay? Sand? Each presents its own special considerations.
• Holes required to be dug beyond a certain depth may require structural reinforcement to prevent collapse of the hole.
• Digging in a forest becomes much easier once we have cut through the first several feet of roots.
• It is possible that with more people working on a project, each person may become less efficient due to increased opportunity for distraction, the assumption he can slack off, more people to talk to, etc.
• More men could work in shifts to dig faster for longer.
• There are more men but are there more shovels?
• The two hours dug by ten men may be under different weather conditions than the two hours dug by two men.
o Rain could flood the hole to prevent digging.
o Temperature conditions may freeze the men before they finish.
• Would we rather have 5 holes each 5 feet deep?
• The two men may be an engineering crew with digging machinery.
• What if one man in each group is a manager who will not actually dig?
• The extra eight men might not be strong enough to dig, or much stronger than the first two.
The most useful ideas listed above are outside the simple mathematics implied by the question.
Lateral Thinking and Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is primarily concerned with judging the Truth value of statements and seeking errors. Lateral Thinking is more concerned with the movement value of statements and ideas. A person would use lateral thinking when they want to move from one known idea to creating new ideas.
Example 2 of lateral thinking
Consider the statement "Cars should have square wheels." When considered with critical thinking, this would be evaluated as a poor suggestion and dismissed as impractical. The Lateral Thinking treatment of the same statement would be to speculate where it leads. Humor is taken intentionally with lateral thinking. A person would imagine "as if" this were the case, and describe the effects or qualities. Someone might observe: square wheels would produce very predictable bumps. If bumps can be predicted, then suspension can be designed to compensate. How could this car predict bumps? It could be a laser or sonar on the front of the car. This leads to the idea of active suspension. A sensor connected to suspension could examine the road surface ahead on cars with round wheels too. A car could have a sensor for determining when it was going to hit a bump that feeds back to suspension that would know to compensate. The initial "provocative" statement has been left behind, but it has also been used to indirectly generate the new and potentially more useful idea.
Regards
Julie
From India, Hyderabad
Just wanted to add some on Lateral Thinking:
Lateral thinking is a term coined by Edward de Bono, a Maltese psychologist, physician and writer. It first appeared in the title of his book The Use of Lateral Thinking, published in 1967. De Bono defines lateral thinking as methods of thinking concerned with changing concepts and perception. Lateral thinking is about reasoning that is not immediately obvious and about ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic.
Techniques of lateral thinking
Techniques that apply lateral thinking to problems are characterised by the shifting of thinking patterns away from entrenched or predictable thinking to new or unexpected ideas. A new idea that is the result of lateral thinking is not always a helpful one, but when a good idea is discovered in this way it is usually obvious in hindsight, which is a feature lateral thinking shares with a joke.
Lateral Thinking and Problem Solving
Edward de Bono points out that the term problem solving implies that there is a problem to respond to and that it can be resolved. That eliminates situations where there is no problem or a problem exists that cannot be resolved. It is logical to think about making a good situation, that has no problems, into a better situation. Some times a problem cannot be solved by removing its cause.
We may need to solve problems not by removing the cause but by designing the way forward even if the cause remains in place. - (Edward de Bono)
Lateral thinking can be used to help in solving problems but can also be used for much more.
Example 1 of lateral thinking
It took two hours for two men to dig a hole five feet deep. How deep would it have been if ten men had dug the hole for two hours?..............
The answer appears to be 25 feet deep. This answer assumes that the thinker has followed a simple mathematical relationship suggested by the description given, but we can generate some lateral thinking ideas about what affects the size of the hole which may lead to different answers:
• A hole may need to be of a certain size or shape so digging might stop early at a required depth.
• The deeper a hole is, the more effort is required to dig it, since waste soil needs to be lifted higher to the ground level. There is a limit to how deep a hole can be dug by manpower without use of ladders or hoists for soil removal, and 25 feet is beyond this limit.
• Ten men would need more room to work side-by-side, and so may need to dig the hole wider rather than deeper. Each man digging needs space to use a shovel.
• Deeper soil layers may be harder to dig out, or we may hit bedrock or the water table.
• Are we digging in soil? Clay? Sand? Each presents its own special considerations.
• Holes required to be dug beyond a certain depth may require structural reinforcement to prevent collapse of the hole.
• Digging in a forest becomes much easier once we have cut through the first several feet of roots.
• It is possible that with more people working on a project, each person may become less efficient due to increased opportunity for distraction, the assumption he can slack off, more people to talk to, etc.
• More men could work in shifts to dig faster for longer.
• There are more men but are there more shovels?
• The two hours dug by ten men may be under different weather conditions than the two hours dug by two men.
o Rain could flood the hole to prevent digging.
o Temperature conditions may freeze the men before they finish.
• Would we rather have 5 holes each 5 feet deep?
• The two men may be an engineering crew with digging machinery.
• What if one man in each group is a manager who will not actually dig?
• The extra eight men might not be strong enough to dig, or much stronger than the first two.
The most useful ideas listed above are outside the simple mathematics implied by the question.
Lateral Thinking and Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is primarily concerned with judging the Truth value of statements and seeking errors. Lateral Thinking is more concerned with the movement value of statements and ideas. A person would use lateral thinking when they want to move from one known idea to creating new ideas.
Example 2 of lateral thinking
Consider the statement "Cars should have square wheels." When considered with critical thinking, this would be evaluated as a poor suggestion and dismissed as impractical. The Lateral Thinking treatment of the same statement would be to speculate where it leads. Humor is taken intentionally with lateral thinking. A person would imagine "as if" this were the case, and describe the effects or qualities. Someone might observe: square wheels would produce very predictable bumps. If bumps can be predicted, then suspension can be designed to compensate. How could this car predict bumps? It could be a laser or sonar on the front of the car. This leads to the idea of active suspension. A sensor connected to suspension could examine the road surface ahead on cars with round wheels too. A car could have a sensor for determining when it was going to hit a bump that feeds back to suspension that would know to compensate. The initial "provocative" statement has been left behind, but it has also been used to indirectly generate the new and potentially more useful idea.
Regards
Julie
From India, Hyderabad
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