Thinkertoys
It’s a process of deconstruction and reconstruction, and it can lead to some wild, fun, and most likely impractical ideas. But it can also lead to some that seem like common sense—the kinds of ideas that might be way off your radar and yet make you say, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
Jan Chipchase • Hidden in Plain Sight: How to Create Extraordinary Products for Tomorrow's Customers
Gladwell implies that what distinguishes truly creative work from derivation (or copying, or plagiarism) lies in the artist's ability to build upon existing foundations in a way that adds something new and meaningful to the conversation.
Issue #45: Are you the head chef or the dishwasher in the AI kitchen?
And this brings us to the most important lesson we can learn from Art Fry and his Post-It Notes: when the world presents you with something interesting or frustrating or curious, choose to do something about it. Choose to be a creator.
James Clear • Smart People Should Create Things
The single biggest commonality that every thinker you’d consider as a generational genius has had is room to think. Sometimes enforced, like with Newton and the plague years, sometimes chosen, like Darwin and his extended voyages, and sometimes through creative work life balance, like Einstein during his patent clerk years.