AIMS
This site is designed with all net users in mind.
School students might find it useful for some school
projects. Its an opportunity for everyone to learn
from each other.
IDEAS
The ability to put ideas into action is what separates
people from other animals. It has been said wealth is information
or ideas.
Ideas might be practical or impractical. Impractical ideas may still be useful in that they may lead to further ideas. This is the basis of De Bono's PO (Provative operation) in which absurd, impossible and crazy ideas are deliberately created for the purpose of provoking new ideas.
New ideas are needed to replace ineffecient ways with more effecient ways.
We need to work smarter not harder. The world has become very complicated. Many things need to be simplified, without being made simplistic. DeBono has written a book called "Simplicity".
USES OF IDEAS
There are good ideas that not many people know about.
There are good ideas that are too difficult to implement, because of
resistance or the existing infrastructure.
There are good ideas not yet discovered.
There are good ideas that have been forgotten.
RESISTANCE
It is sometimes said it is human nature not to change, we will always
have war, crime etc. Sweeping technological advances in the last few
decades have seen so much change that this attitude is becoming much less
prevalent. Businesses which cling to the old ways are becoming obselete.
THE FUTURE
This site will eventually includes several forums where readers are invited
to post their ideas. The site is moderated, so nothing excessively offensive
will be posted. Whether you just want to read, or write, get in there
and have some fun.
SOCIAL ISSUES
It tends to be easier to implement change in technlogical or mechanical
processes. Positive social changes tend to be far more problematic.
There are negative phenomena that societies generally want to eliminate, reduce, or at least increase measures against.
These include crimes of all kinds, including violent crime, drug abuse, burgulary and theft, fraud, child and domestic abuse etc.
Others include harmful accidents of all kinds (which might be better renamed mishaps or something else, the word accident seems to imply no-one is responsible or the situation cannot be improved.) Two important categories are road mishaps and industrial mishaps.
On an international scale thay include war, piracy, smuggling etc.
SIMPLER
The world is becoming very complicated. More simplicity is needed,
without something becoming simplistic. There are many many possibilities
here. Ideas to make things simpler.
TECHNOLOGICAL
Energy. They say the car is only 20% effecient, much the other 80%
producing noise and pollution.
Cheap renewable methods of creating and distributing electricity and other energy are needed.
EDUCATION
Education doesn't stop the day you leave school, though I've heard it
said that the brain sometimes stops working when it gets to school.
Life is a learning experience. Better ways are needed to help people
learn new ideas at all ages.
A situation exists in Australia where there is a shortage of skilled people in various trades in which apprenticeships in those trades are restricted to those of a very young age.
THIRD WORLD
What is becoming increasingly important is the ability to transfer ideas
around the globe. Encouraging literacy in some third world countries
may be very helpful.
ENVIRONMENT
Human activity needs to make use of natural resources, without
plundering the Earth. There needs to be harmony with nature.
Future generations need to be looked after.
PSYCHOLOGY
We can all develop our emotional intelligence, thinking skills and
intuition.
HUMOUR
What can be done to introduce more humour and fun into everyday life?
IDEAL WORLD
World has optimum population with population growth appropriate to
future population growth. There is sufficient healthy food.
Everyone lives to 100+.
There is no crime, or war or poverty. Everyone has abundance in their
material needs. People live in harmony with animals and plants. The
world is gradually not being poisoned.
Of course, there is no perfect world anyway, as the words say in the song say. Though the world is slowly moving in this direction.
WIN WIN
There are different ways of gaining wealth. Ways in which everyone wins
are preferable to win-lose situations.
Clever ideas can be used to manipulate people into spending (or donating) money for things they don't need, or at least are overpriced. One person's gain is the other's loss. This is a Win-Lose or Lose-Win situation and is fundamentally unhealthy. A blatant example was the exstensive promotion of cigarette smoking (an addictive and extremely unhealthy habit) for most of the 1900s.
What is needed is truly positive Win-Win situations, where everyone gains.
FUTUROLOGY
I predict the science of looking into the future will become more
important. When problems happen, it is sometimes cynically said that hindsight
is a wonderful thing. Often these problems could have been foreseen, but
the warning signs are ignored.
Foresight is a skill that can be developed.
WITTICISMS
Witty sayings, short stories or anecdotes can be an entertaining way to
communicate a useful point.
A well known example is: Give a man a fish and he will be hungry tomorrow, teach him how to fish and he will never be hungry again.
An application of this idea might be in relation to foreign aid given to the third world. A good literacy program might do far more in the long run than some other forms of aid.
The above are just some of the things there will be in the forum, when I work out how to do it!
ABSTRACT THINKING
Many people are good with details, but not so good when it comes to
abstractions. This is why it can be so useful to give examples,
especially real-life ones that people can relate to.
An abstraction is a vague, indefinite, shapeless kind of thing. In fact, the word thing, can be a very useful tool when using abstractions.
Abstract thinking can involve the use of general principles. Good abstract thinking might be to apply a principle to as many situations as possible.
Its important to be aware of the subtle differences between situations and take them into account. One day I will write a lot more on abstract thinking.
TRANSPOSING IDEAS
In Year 7 I learnt that a shape on a 2 dimensional surface could be
altered in various ways. Moving it in the x and/or y directions was called
translation. Spinning it around was called rotation. A shape can be flipped
from left to right, in which case a mirror image is creation.
The shape can be made larger or smaller, it can be stretched from one corner. More ways can be found to manipulate shapes. Shapes can be be altered in 3 dimensions (or even more!).
Just as a shape can be altered, so can an idea. Ideas can be resized, twisted, reversed, translated etc. Changing an idea can mean making it work when it didn't work before or making it work better.
Critical is connecting ideas to other ideas