Innovation is about finding a better way of doing something. Like many of the new development buzzwords (which many of them are over-used on many business documents), the concept of innovation originates from the world of business. It refers to the generation of new products through the process of creative entrepreneurship, putting it into production, and diffusing it more widely through increased sales. Innovation can be viewed as t he application of better solutions that meet new requirements, in-articulated needs, or existing market needs. This is accomplished through more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are readily available to markets, governments and society. The term innovation can be defined as something original and, as a consequence, new, that “breaks into” the market or society.
Innoveracy: Misunderstanding Innovation article points out that there is a form of ignorance which seems to be universal: the inability to understand the concept and role of innovation. The way this is exhibited is in the misuse of the term and the inability to discern the difference between novelty, creation, invention and innovation. The result is a failure to understand the causes of success and failure in business and hence the conditions that lead to economic growth. The definition of innovation is easy to find but it seems to be hard to understand. Here is a simple taxonomy of related activities that put innovation in context:
- Novelty: Something new
- Creation: Something new and valuable
- Invention: Something new, having potential value through utility
- Innovation: Something new and uniquely useful
The taxonomy is illustrated with the following diagram.
The differences are also evident in the mechanisms that exist to protect the works: Novelties are usually not protectable, Creations are protected by copyright or trademark, Inventions can be protected for a limited time through patents (or kept secret) and Innovations can be protected through market competition but are not defensible through legal means.
Innovation is a lot of talked about nowdays as essential to businesses to do. Is innovation essential for development work? article tells that innovation has become central to the way development organisations go about their work. In November 2011, Bill Gates told the G20 that innovation was the key to development. Donors increasingly stress innovation as a key condition for funding, and many civil society organisations emphasise that innovation is central to the work they do.
Some innovation ideas are pretty simple, and some are much more complicated and even sound crazy when heard first. The is place for crazy sounding ideas: venture capitalists are gravely concerned that the tech startups they’re investing in just aren’t crazy enough:
Not all development problems require new solutions, sometimes you just need to use old things in a slightly new way. Development innovations may involve devising technology (such as a nanotech water treatment kit), creating a new approach (such as microfinance), finding a better way of delivering public services (such as one-stop egovernment service centres), identifying ways of working with communities (such as participation), or generating a management technique (such as organisation learning).
Theorists of innovation identify innovation itself as a brief moment of creativity, to be followed by the main routine work of producing and selling the innovation. When it comes to development, things are more complicated. Innovation needs to be viewed as tool, not master. Innovation is a process, not a one time event. Genuine innovation is valuable but rare.
There are many views on the innovation and innvation process. I try to collect together there some views I have found on-line. Hopefully they help you more than confuze. Managing complexity and reducing risk article has this drawing which I think pretty well describes innovation as done in product development:
8 essential practices of successful innovation from The Innovator’s Way shows essential practices in innovation process. Those practices are all integrated into a non-sequential, coherent whole and style in the person of the innovator.
In the IT work there is lots of work where a little thinking can be a source of innovation. Automating IT processes can be a huge time saver or it can fail depending on situation. XKCD comic strip Automation as illustrates this:
System integration is a critical element in project design article has an interesting project cost influence graphic. The recommendation is to involve a system integrator early in project design to help ensure high-quality projects that satisfy project requirements. Of course this article tries to market system integration services, but has also valid points to consider.
Core Contributor Loop (CTTDC) from Art Journal blog posting Blog Is The New Black tries to link inventing an idea to theory of entrepreneurship. It is essential to tune the engine by making improvements in product, marketing, code, design and operations.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Two lifeforms merge into one organism for first time in a billion years
‘The first time it happened, it gave rise to all complex life,’ scientists say
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/algae-evolution-agriculture-plant-history-b2533698.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2024/04/24/the-first-european-pocket-calculator-came-from-yugoslavia/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2024/04/25/synthesis-of-goldene-single-atom-layer-gold-with-interesting-properties/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kaareva datalinkki esteitä ohittamaan
https://www.nanobitteja.fi/uutiset.html?235570
Seuraavan sukupolven langattomat signaalit eivät enää tule erottelemattomasti tukiasemasta, kuten nyt, vaan ne ovat todennäköisesti kohdistettujen suuntasäteiden muodossa. Siten kaikki fyysiset häiriöt ⎯ esimerkiksi esineen tai lähellä kulkevan henkilön aiheuttamat ⎯ voivat kuitenkin estää signaalia ja muodostaa esteen ultranopeiden millimetriaaltoisten ja alle terahertsisten langattomien verkkojen käyttöönotolle.
Ricen ja Brownin yliopistojen tutkijat ovat kuitenkin osoittaneet, että dataa kuljettavat kaareutuvat säteet voivat muodostaa yhteyden tukiasemien ja käyttäjien välille, ohittaen tehokkaasti välissä olevia esteitä.
Communications Engineeringissä julkaistussa työssään tutkijat osoittivat alle terahertsisen säteen, joka seuraa kaareutuvaa liikerataa ⎯ saavutuksen, joka voi mullistaa langattoman viestinnän tekemällä alle terahertsin taajuuksilla toimivien langattomien tietoverkkojen tulevaisuudesta toteuttamiskelpoisempia.
“Tämä on maailman ensimmäinen kaareva langaton datayhteys, kriittinen virstanpylväs suuren tiedonsiirtonopeuden ja korkean luotettavuuden 6G-vision toteuttamisessa”, sanoi Edward Knightly, sähkö- ja tietokonetekniikan sekä tietojenkäsittelytieteen professori Ricessä.
Curving THz wireless data links around obstacles
https://www.nature.com/articles/s44172-024-00206-3
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/16143-mullistava-siru-suojaa-kaeyttaejaen-datan-ja-tehostaa-aelypuhelimen-suorituskykyae
Tutkijat ovat kehittäneet innovatiivisen tietoturvallisen ratkaisun energiatehokkaaseen tekoälymallien suorittamiseen älypuhelimissa. Uusi siruteknologia tarjoaa suojaa kahdelta yleiseltä hyökkäystyypiltä ja lupaa mullistaa terveyssovellusten käytön.
Massachusettsin teknillisen korkeakoulun (MIT) ja MIT-IBM Watson AI Labin tutkijat ovat luoneet tekoälyn kiihdyttimen, joka suojaa käyttäjien henkilökohtaisia tietoja – kuten terveys- ja pankkidataa – samalla kun se mahdollistaa suurten tekoälymallien tehokkaan suorittamisen laitteissa.
Siru on suunniteltu vastustamaan erityisesti ns. side channel- ja väylävakoiluhyökkäyksiä (bus probing), jotka ovat yleisiä tietoturvaongelmia nykyaikaisissa laitteissa.
Uusi siru toimii digitaalisen muistilaskennan (IMC) periaatteella, jossa tekoälyn mallit jaetaan osiin ja tallennetaan laitteen muistiin. Tämä vähentää tarvetta siirtää tietoja laitteen ja keskusmuistipalvelimen välillä, mikä nopeuttaa suorituskykyä mutta asettaa samalla laitteen alttiiksi hyökkäyksille. Tutkijat ovat kuitenkin kehittäneet kolmiosaisen suojakeinon, joka tehokkaasti estää sekä sivukanava- että väylävakoiluhyökkäykset.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Interested in memristor circuits and networks?
“Advanced Memristor Modeling” by Valeri Mladenov demonstrates the importance of new memory schemes, neural networks, computer systems, and many other improved electronic devices for future electronic circuits and their widespread application in all areas of industry.
Download and read here
https://brnw.ch/21wIE1F
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2024/04/29/this-is-how-a-pen-changed-the-world/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The term “Internet” was first coined in December 1974, in a paper titled “A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication” written by Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn. This paper described the Transmission Control Program (TCP) and the structure of the early Internet.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Yeah, but the universe knew. The future influences the past. https://www.vice.com/en/article/epvgjm/a-growing-number-of-scientists-are-convinced-the-future-influences-the-past
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/16157-uusi-kalvoakku-latautuu-minuuteissa
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientists reveal the date Earth will face a mass EXTINCTION that wipes out all humans
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12558113/Scientists-reveal-date-Earth-face-mass-EXTINCTION-wipes-humans.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://newatlas.com/environment/solein-protein-sustainable/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1dzUYoYw5hHOHrlE1X41CO1JlgQWmely0TlnJRHTMRXhSB2SI0POjnivY_aem_AbI36j9FXLAAlhFunlQFEBhZTCE2PGMa0S2ywShVRqz1fgLaauDbFgZ5-stttQ47bJt3e7i28Sre7imzVhaA6_K3
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.mdpi.com/2813-0324/6/1/4?utm_campaign=journnews_ccbj_proceedings&utm_medium=social_journ&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3SCFsEizhY6FLVWqSuRh7rV1uLSvmg3b2Boikyl5sQJemi41bgqHhnmp8_aem_ATbiCCbPBqoEwWS7yBDBW3QE_SBHR-3Ekx4bQliYt3GqZRXuCBrV_cvQaHEM2fQOQ2JVU-bkOb26g1v4yFhqkLpa
Tomi Engdahl says:
Puola lakkautti läksyt peruskouluista, ja kiitos siitä kuuluu yhdelle reippaalle pojalle
Läksyjä oli enemmän kuin muissa Euroopan maissa.
https://yle.fi/a/74-20085776
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/graphics-cards/self-taught-hardware-engineer-discovers-that-gpus-really-are-ridiculously-complex-and-hard-to-design-after-all/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a60608517/overcome-earth-gravity/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Toimitusjohtaja vaatii työntekijöitä käyttämään ChatGPT:tä vähintään 20 kertaa päivässä
Joona Komonen29.4.202416:42TEKOÄLYKORONAVIRUS
Modernan toimitusjohtaja on ollut ChatGPT-fani jo vuoden 2022 lopusta asti.
https://www.tivi.fi/uutiset/toimitusjohtaja-vaatii-tyontekijoita-kayttamaan-chatgptta-vahintaan-20-kertaa-paivassa/7399bb3c-91a5-40df-8de5-cd7ea137c7b1
Tomi Engdahl says:
Älypuhelimet tulisi kieltää kaikilta alle 13-vuotiailta, vaatii tuore raportti
Ranskan presidentin tilaama raportti antaa tiukkoja suosituksia lasten ja nuorten kännyköiden käyttöön.
https://www.hs.fi/ulkomaat/art-2000010397703.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.extremetech.com/computing/scientists-reveal-non-volatile-memory-breakthrough
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.etteplan.com/about-us/insights/accelerate-development-with-model-based-design/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dr. James Harris Rogers (1856-1929) inventor of the “loop aerial” and holder of numerous patents in telegraphy, telephony and radio. During WWI Rogers proved that water as well as earth and air is a medium for the transmission of electro-magnetic waves. Through the “well” located on his property, high officials heard German official reports. https://www.shorpy.com/node/15001?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+shorpy+%28Shorpy+-+The+100-Year-Old+Photo+Blog%29
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nykyihminen ei osaa enää lukea kirjoja tai kirjoittaa käsin – vain monistaa jonkun toisen keksimiä sanoja ja ajatuksia
Aktivistit ovat harvoin prosaisteja, joten päädymme rakentamaan arvomaailmaamme ilmaisuilla, jotka kuulostavat jonkin komitean tai puoluetoimiston keksimiltä. Yleensä esimerkiksi “tuomitsemisella” tunnutaan tarkoittavan suurin piirtein sitä, että minusta tämä oli hirveä juttu, kirjoittaa Tuija Siltamäki.
https://www.apu.fi/artikkelit/tuija-siltamaki-tuomitsen-voimakkaasti-sosiaalisen-median-tuomitsemisteatterin#Echobox=1714455895
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.sdworx.fi/fi-fi/inspiroidu/osaamisen-johtaminen/osaamisstrategian-muutos
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rina Diane Caballar / IEEE Spectrum:
As CS students experiment with AI coding tools, professors say courses need to focus less on syntax and more on problem solving, design, testing, and debugging — Professors are shifting away from syntax and emphasizing higher-level skills — Generative AI is transforming the software development industry.
AI Copilots Are Changing How Coding Is Taught
Professors are shifting away from syntax and emphasizing higher-level skills
https://spectrum.ieee.org/ai-coding
Generative AI is transforming the software development industry. AI-powered coding tools are assisting programmers in their workflows, while jobs in AI continue to increase. But the shift is also evident in academia—one of the major avenues through which the next generation of software engineers learn how to code.
Computer science students are embracing the technology, using generative AI to help them understand complex concepts, summarize complicated research papers, brainstorm ways to solve a problem, come up with new research directions, and, of course, learn how to code.
“Students are early adopters and have been actively testing these tools,” says Johnny Chang, a teaching assistant at Stanford University pursuing a master’s degree in computer science. He also founded the AI x Education conference in 2023, a virtual gathering of students and educators to discuss the impact of AI on education
So as not to be left behind, educators are also experimenting with generative AI. But they’re grappling with techniques to adopt the technology while still ensuring students learn the foundations of computer science.
“It’s a difficult balancing act,” says Ooi Wei Tsang, an associate professor in the School of Computing at the National University of Singapore. “Given that large language models are evolving rapidly, we are still learning how to do this.”
Less Emphasis on Syntax, More on Problem Solving
The fundamentals and skills themselves are evolving. Most introductory computer science courses focus on code syntax and getting programs to run, and while knowing how to read and write code is still essential, testing and debugging—which aren’t commonly part of the syllabus—now need to be taught more explicitly.
“We’re seeing a little upping of that skill, where students are getting code snippets from generative AI that they need to test for correctness,” says Jeanna Matthews, a professor of computer science at Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y.
Another vital expertise is problem decomposition. “This is a skill to know early on because you need to break a large problem into smaller pieces that an LLM can solve,” says Leo Porter, an associate teaching professor of computer science at the University of California, San Diego. “It’s hard to find where in the curriculum that’s taught—maybe in an algorithms or software engineering class, but those are advanced classes. Now, it becomes a priority in introductory classes.”
“Given that large language models are evolving rapidly, we are still learning how to do this.”
—Ooi Wei Tsang, National University of Singapore
As a result, educators are modifying their teaching strategies. “I used to have this singular focus on students writing code that they submit, and then I run test cases on the code to determine what their grade is,” says Daniel Zingaro, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Toronto Mississauga. “This is such a narrow view of what it means to be a software engineer, and I just felt that with generative AI, I’ve managed to overcome that restrictive view.”
Zingaro, who coauthored a book on AI-assisted Python programming with Porter, now has his students work in groups and submit a video explaining how their code works. Through these walk-throughs, he gets a sense of how students use AI to generate code, what they struggle with, and how they approach design, testing, and teamwork.
“It’s an opportunity for me to assess their learning process of the whole software development [life cycle]—not just code,” Zingaro says. “And I feel like my courses have opened up more and they’re much broader than they used to be. I can make students work on larger and more advanced projects.”
Avoiding AI’s Coding Pitfalls
But educators are cautious given an LLM’s tendency to hallucinate. “We need to be teaching students to be skeptical of the results and take ownership of verifying and validating them,” says Matthews.
Matthews adds that generative AI “can short-circuit the learning process of students relying on it too much.” Chang agrees that this overreliance can be a pitfall and advises his fellow students to explore possible solutions to problems by themselves so they don’t lose out on that critical thinking or effective learning process. “We should be making AI a copilot—not the autopilot—for learning,” he says.
Other drawbacks include copyright and bias. “I teach my students about the ethical constraints—that this is a model built off other people’s code and we’d recognize the ownership of that,” Porter says. “We also have to recognize that models are going to represent the bias that’s already in society.”
Adapting to the rise of generative AI involves students and educators working together and learning from each other. For her colleagues, Matthews’s advice is to “try to foster an environment where you encourage students to tell you when and how they’re using these tools. Ultimately, we are preparing our students for the real world, and the real world is shifting, so sticking with what you’ve always done may not be the recipe that best serves students in this transition.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://futurism.com/the-byte/physicists-glitch-universe
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/16186-uusi-vesiakku-peittoaa-nykyakut-energiatiheydessae
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2024/05/08/remembering-dick-rutan-and-his-non-stop-flight-around-the-world/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2024/05/08/how-we-got-the-scanning-electron-microscope/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2024/05/08/much-faster-cold-brew-through-cavitation/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Using a laser on an XY gantry to burn patterns into the leaves can turn a waste material into sensors for drugs and more.
Researchers Turn Fallen Leaves Into Working Electrochemical Sensors — By Blasting Them with Lasers
https://www.hackster.io/news/researchers-turn-fallen-leaves-into-working-electrochemical-sensors-by-blasting-them-with-lasers-1d76007781ce?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3DChlXHwzHOJOfdYVMFsORHd0tTF8GRvfuKs-sZu3LMOagRRIrIgOyQvs_aem_ASsyEA9zLqJJEAo4nqIlDmY6Ac_Z65Q7Ds7m-_h3K-tjL45DQNswzXihKJWGOpM87yB9Cqnw6sd_PST_l47qj0Zg
Using a laser on an XY gantry to burn patterns into the leaves can turn a waste material into sensors for drugs and more.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Researchers at the Universities of Melbourne and Manchester have invented a breakthrough technique for manufacturing highly purified silicon that brings powerful quantum computers a big step closer.
New super-pure silicon chip opens path to powerful quantum computers
https://phys.org/news/2024-05-super-pure-silicon-chip-path.html?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1fwvd7oCcg6m3MpBY1aOebPPCegdO991s4eQBuU8gOGxpfABiL6-1dB5M_aem_ASvkv7ddosGWgchdCXw_n72GDTqm6G5l6K6gQZKd0sXIibmgDVvOr4S6b1Ue58VacODq7To9OzcUBWwRTyppZO4I#google_vignette
Researchers at the Universities of Melbourne and Manchester have invented a breakthrough technique for manufacturing highly purified silicon that brings powerful quantum computers a big step closer.
The new technique to engineer ultra-pure silicon makes it the perfect material to make quantum computers at scale and with high accuracy, the researchers say.
Project co-supervisor Professor David Jamieson, from the University of Melbourne, said the innovation, published in Communications Materials, uses qubits of phosphorous atoms implanted into crystals of pure stable silicon and could overcome a critical barrier to quantum computing by extending the duration of notoriously fragile quantum coherence.
“Fragile quantum coherence means computing errors build up rapidly. With robust coherence provided by our new technique, quantum computers could solve in hours or minutes some problems that would take conventional or ‘classical’ computers—even supercomputers—centuries,” Professor Jamieson said.
Quantum bits or qubits—the building blocks of quantum computers—are susceptible to tiny changes in their environment, including temperature fluctuations. Even when operated in tranquil refrigerators near absolute zero (minus 273 degrees Celsius), current quantum computers can maintain error-free coherence for only a tiny fraction of a second.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Higgs Boson-Induced Reheating and Dark Matter Production
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-8994/14/2/306?utm_campaign=120204242186030217&utm_medium=paid&utm_source=fb&fbclid=IwAR3S7EudVDZonrHhbGFje04PrKosqzK_11sFlGjDHHKBjYhcPcasN31LgGI_aem_AdwTGLxb3fAADZVeTRzu3LSXlCz9o2ouV4NRZUIzT5g3TqY5uuLf9GZBhabUjrZWmu4ccKDN080fsJ_l21uJ9WAu&utm_id=120204242186030217&utm_content=120209238229070217&utm_term=120204242186100217
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Paradigm Shift in RAM Is About to Make Computing Unstoppable
Scientists unlocked the secret to blazing-fast memory.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a60527526/mram-discovery/
Tomi Engdahl says:
New particle at last! Physicists detect the first “glueball”
Glueballs are an unusual, unconfirmed Standard Model prediction, suggesting bound states of gluons alone exist. We just found our first one.
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/new-particle-first-glueball/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.kansalliskirjasto.fi/fi/uutiset/uusi-dokumenttielokuva-kertoo-tieteen-evakuoinnin-tarinan
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.taiste.fi/post/the-case-of-two-numpads-a-design-detective-story
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tutkijat löysivät täysin vahingossa uuden teknologian – lupaa posketonta suorituskykyä sähköautoille
Jos nyt löydetty teknologia toimii myös käytännössä tutkimusolosuhteisiin verrattavalla tavalla, voi se tarkoittaa suurta mullistusta monien akullisten laitteiden käyttöön.
https://www.is.fi/autot/art-2000010413544.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Teetkö tällaista työtä? Se voi hidastaa muistin heikkenemistä
https://www.is.fi/terveys/art-2000010424614.html
Norjalaistutkimuksen mukaan tietynlaista työtä tekevät saattavat välttyä muistisairauksilta muita todennäköisemmin.
Ajatustyötä tai muuten aivoja haastavaa työtä tekevät saattavat säästyä muistisairauksilta muita todennäköisemmin, norjalaistutkimus osoittaa. Tutkimus julkaistiin Neurology-lehdessä.
Norjalaisten tulosten perusteella kognitiivisesti haastavaa työtä 30–60-vuotiaana tehneet sairastuivat muistisairauksiin yli 70-vuotiaana epätodennäköisemmin kuin samanikäiset, joiden ammatti oli aivoille vähemmän haastava.
Rutiininomaista fyysistä työtä tekevät sairastuivat muistin ja muiden kognitiivisten mielentoimintojen lievään heikentymään 70 prosenttia ja dementiaan 40 prosenttia todennäköisemmin kuin aivoja haastavaa työtä tekevät.
Tomi Engdahl says:
University of Oxford:
A study of 2,414,294 people in 168 countries between 2006 and 2021 finds 84.9% of associations between internet connectivity and wellbeing were positive
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2024-05-14-internet-use-statistically-associated-higher-wellbeing-finds-new-global-oxford-study
Tomi Engdahl says:
Think Again: Tips On Finding And Flexing Your Creativity
https://hackaday.com/2024/05/15/think-again-tips-on-finding-and-flexing-your-creativity/
echnical work — including problem-solving — is creative work. In addition, creativity is more than a vague and nebulous attribute that either is or isn’t present when it’s needed. A short article by [Anthony D. Fredericks] gives some practical and useful tips on energizing and exercising one’s creativity.
Why would creative thinking be meaningful to a technical person? The author shares an anonymous observation that as children we’re taught to stay inside the lines, while as adults we are often expected to think outside the box. Certainly when it comes to technical tasks, our focus is more on logical thinking. But problem solving benefits as much from creative thinking as it does from more logical approaches.
How can one cultivate creative thinking? The main idea is that creativity is best flexed and exercised by actively looking for connections and similarities between highly dissimilar elements, rather than focusing on their differences. Some thought exercises are provided to help with this process. Like with any exercise, the more one does it, the better one becomes.
Practicing more creative thinking can help jolt new ideas and approaches to a tough problem
An Amazing Strategy to Energize Your Creativity
Noting the similarities between random objects energizes our creative output.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/creative-insights/202404/an-amazing-strategy-to-energize-your-creativity
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Key points
Much of our education is geared toward logical thinking.
Creative thinking is stimulated when we look for similarities, not differences.
Observing how things are alike stimulates the imagination and fosters dynamic thinking.
As kids, we were creative dynamos. We built forts to fend off marauding armies, we engaged in imaginary games, and we created monsters, giants, and six-headed aliens from other worlds. Life was full of imagination and wonderful possibilities. Ours was a creative world—a world without limitations or restrictions.
However, for most of our education, we were trained to be logical thinkers; we were taught lots of facts and memorized lots of information. Creative thinkers, on the other hand, bend, mold, alter, and modify those facts to create entirely new thoughts and entirely new opportunities. Creativity is not about “what is” (logical thinking) but, rather, is more focused on “what could be” (creative thinking). It’s pushing past our common knowledge and entering an unrestricted and unbounded territory.
Recently, I came across a most interesting quote: “We teach children to color inside the lines, and then expect adults to think outside the box” (Anonymous). That is to say, our education doesn’t always provide us with the skills necessary to live a creative life.
when we look for differences, the emphasis is typically on logical thinking. On the other hand, when we look for similarities, particularly among random items, the focus shifts to creative thinking.
Here’s an example: What are the similarities between a brick and a rubber band? At first glance, that seems to be an impossible task. “There’s nothing similar between those two items,” you might exclaim. But, dig a little deeper and you will begin to see possibilities. For example, here are a few similarities for your consideration:
Both are made from organic materials.
Both can have right angles.
Both can be used to hold things down.
Both are inexpensive.
Both are geometric shapes.
Both can be obtained in a hardware store.
Both need the letter “b” to make sense.
Both come in a variety of colors.
Exercise 1:
Try to find three to five similarities between some of the following:
An apple and a bulldozer
A slipper and a pencil
A window pane and a shovel
An oak tree and a fan
A computer keyboard and a rice patty
A driveway and a lighthouse
A piece of coal and an email
A stapler and a motorcycle
A billboard and a diamond ring
A fire hydrant and grilled cheese sandwich
Exercise 2:
Here’s a different approach. Get a pack of 5-by-8-inch index cards, some cellophane tape, and a tall stack of old magazines. Take a pair of scissors and cut out as many pictures as you can. Don’t look for any particular type of picture or photograph; the only restriction is that it must be smaller than the index card. You may want to set a predetermined goal ahead of time—for example, 100 pictures. Afterward, tape each picture to a card and then turn all the cards face down.
Each day randomly select two cards. Turn the cards over and see if you can determine four or five similarities between the two pictures.
Conclusion
According to Steve Jobs, “Creativity is just connecting things.” By focusing on the similarities (rather than differences) between items, you will be exercising your mind to look at the world in a more creative way (“outside the box.”).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Adaptive Chef’s Knife Provides Better Leverage
https://hackaday.com/2024/05/16/adaptive-chefs-knife-provides-better-leverage/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Swedish researchers create conductive semiconductors: https://ie.social/VvL0R
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/16218-edullinen-sinkkiparisto-kestaeae-8000-latausjaksoa
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kuinka valo voi höyrystää vettä ilman lämpöä
https://www.nanobitteja.fi/uutiset.html?235868
MIT:n tutkijoiden löytämä yllättävä “fotomolekyyliefekti” saattaa vaikuttaa ilmastonmuutoslaskelmiin ja johtaa parantuneisiin suolanpoisto- ja kuivausprosesseihin.
Veden haihtuminen on kaikkialla ympärillämme, ja ihmiset ovat hyödyntäneet sitä niin kauan kuin olemme olleet olemassa.
Ja nyt käy ilmi, että meiltä on puuttunut osa aiheen tietämyksestä koko ajan.
Tutkijaryhmä on osoittanut useissa tarkoissa kokeissa, että lämpö ei ole yksin veden haihtumisen aiheuttajana. Valo, joka osuu veden pintaan ilman ja veden kohtaamispaikassa, voi murtaa vesimolekyylejä pois ja kelluttaa ne ilmaan aiheuttaen haihtumista ilman lämmönlähdettä.
Koska vaikutus oli niin odottamaton, tiimi työskenteli todistaakseen sen olemassaolon mahdollisimman monilla erilaisilla todisteilla.
Vaikutus on voimakkain, kun valo osuu veden pintaan 45 asteen kulmassa. Se on myös vahvin tietyntyyppisellä polarisaatiolla, jota kutsutaan poikittaismagneettiseksi polarisaatioksi. Ja se on huipussaan vihreässä valossa – mikä, omituisesti on väri, jossa vesi on läpinäkyvintä ja siten vähiten vuorovaikutuksessa. Mutta he eivät voi vielä selittää väririippuvuutta, mikä heidän mukaansa vaatii lisätutkimuksia.
Tutkijat ovat nimenneet ilmiön fotomolekyyliefektiksi analogisesti valosähköisen vaikutuksen kanssa, jonka Heinrich Hertz löysi vuonna 1887 ja jonka Albert Einstein lopulta selitti vuonna 1905.
Aivan kuten valosähköinen vaikutus vapauttaa elektroneja materiaalin atomeista vasteena valon fotonin osumiseen, fotomolekyylivaikutus osoittaa, että fotonit voivat vapauttaa kokonaisia molekyylejä nestepinnalta, tutkijat toteavat.
“Tutkimusraportin havainnot viittaavat uuteen fysikaaliseen mekanismiin, joka muuttaa pohjimmiltaan ajatteluamme haihtumisen kinetiikasta”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hybridilomittuminen tehostaa kvanttiteleportaatiota
https://www.nanobitteja.fi/uutiset.html?236191
Turun yliopiston sekä University of Science and Technology of Chinan (USTC) tutkijat ovat onnistuneet luomaan fotoneilla lähes täydellisen teleportaation huolimatta kohinasta, joka perinteisesti häiritsee kvanttitilan siirtoa.
Teleportaatiossa kvanttihiukkasen, eli kubitin, tila siirretään paikasta toiseen ilman että itse hiukkanen siirtyy. Tämä tilan siirtäminen edellyttää kvanttiresursseja, eli ylimääräistä kubittiparia, jonka hiukkaset ovat lomittuneet.
Teoriassa teleportaatio tai tilan siirtäminen voi tapahtua täydellisellä tarkkuudella. Mutta reaalimaailmassa kvanttisysteemit ovat alttiita kohinalle ja häiriöille, mikä rajoittaa myös teleportaation laatua.
Nyt tutkijakumppanit ovat nyt esittäneet teorian ja toteuttaneet kokeen, jolla he onnistuivat ratkaisemaan häiriöiden ongelman kvanttisysteemissä eli he löysivät keinon toteuttaa korkealaatuinen teleportaatio ympäristön häiriöistä huolimatta.
– Oivalluksemme perustuu siihen, että ennen kubittien tilan siirtämistä paikasta toiseen hiukkasten välinen lomittuminen jaetaan laajemmin kuin pelkästään kahden kubitin välille. Teleportaatiossa voidaan siis käyttää hyväksi niin sanottua hybridilomittumista, sanoo professori Jyrki Piilo Turun yliopistosta.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How 3 Hackers built a $3 trillion empire
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sdidb7Z8IUc&si=2z70pODWK9Ii_LOK&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3lnaF6UWCD2GNKFcCZUqHOI5f3CaaD-D29QJIwJsCzanTuVasm57HcgnQ_aem_AU8ykhIRZlCe3RSOrlKkarruUcbpqydjj-zlbi5lsn9hKT3YCHryzED_9VaZkrjDfYcQBg9cSgPzsvWF_4P3-9Y0
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientists Discover First-of-Its-Kind Molecule That Absorbs Greenhouse Gasses
https://mysteriousuniverse.stamps.com.pk/66-2/
A ‘cage of cages’ is how scientists have described a new type of porous material, unique in its molecular structure, that could be used to trap carbon dioxide and another, more potent greenhouse gas.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kulta, hopea ja kupari voidaan liuottaa kierrätysmateriaaleista aiempaa kestävämmillä menetelmillä
Elektroniikkajäte, vanhat akut tai aurinkopaneelit ovat muuttumassa kaivostoiminnan rinnalle tärkeäksi arvometallien lähteeksi. Helsingin yliopiston tutkijat ovat kehittäneet menetelmiä, joilla arvometallit voidaan liuottaa ja erotella samalla kertaa ja lisäksi liuotin voidaan uusiokäyttää
https://www.hopkins.fi/kokemuksia/viherpeukalot/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kulta, hopea ja kupari voidaan liuottaa kierrätysmateriaaleista aiempaa kestävämmillä menetelmillä
Elektroniikkajäte, vanhat akut tai aurinkopaneelit ovat muuttumassa kaivostoiminnan rinnalle tärkeäksi arvometallien lähteeksi. Helsingin yliopiston tutkijat ovat kehittäneet menetelmiä, joilla arvometallit voidaan liuottaa ja erotella samalla kertaa ja lisäksi liuotin voidaan uusiokäyttää
https://www.helsinki.fi/fi/uutiset/kestavyysmurros/kulta-hopea-ja-kupari-voidaan-liuottaa-kierratysmateriaaleista-aiempaa-kestavammilla-menetelmilla
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.iflscience.com/just-one-all-nighter-can-rewire-the-brain-and-reverse-feelings-of-depression-for-days-71630?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0CPaEgvpbdFlqU2nw-0ADuCkivea23YHjYYN-reidGqgEy9Ghn24z0XMQ_aem_AXwcUJXTkE0d3-3qozp0K4hQGS5fqbgSMPF9eXfnvlXrKl934gwl9Cl0x4gA0QkRF3Q7vZiFtnFb2Wt9-GeOa7t3