Where would we be without the Guitarifle, the MowerCycle or Wateringsneakers? We’d probably be right here, because Steven M. Johnson’s inventions are so ‘sneakily outrageous’ they are unlikely to see the marketplace anytime soon. Or in Johnsons own words: “I have decided an idea has no practical worth and would never be likely to be adopted seriously (like most of my ideas), but I like it anyway.” This does not make his book ‘What the world needs now‘ any less entertaining or inspiring even – reminding us how to think outside that ‘box’ again.

Tom Peters, a self-described “professional loudmouth” and marketing guru talks about how education handles creativity. The flaw in the system is, according to Tom, education is still training students to become Ford Factory workers (“leave your brains at the door”) while the economy is demanding Creative Thinkers.

The “dismal science” truly shines in this optimistic talk, as economist Alex Tabarrok argues free trade and globalization are shaping our once-divided world into a community of idea-sharing more healthy, happy and prosperous than anyone’s predictions.

(found via Idealize.nl)

Economist Umair Haque talks about how ideals and real value creation are more important than innovating business models for the economy of the future. Via Harvard Business.org

The Better Project harnesses the collaborative power of the Web to help make anything better. It takes just a few minutes to set up your own instance, invite others and start sharing and discussing ideas around causes and interests you care about.

One of the recurring themes on Crinid are age-old questions like: Where do creative thoughts come from? What determines one’s ability to be creative and why does this often seem so vague, fleeting and intangible?

A creative suggestion is found in ancient Greece, where they believed separate entities such as the Muses or Genius’ are responsible for our ability to be creative. Invisible to the eye, but always helping out by whispering new and original thoughts into the ears of their protégé’s. This romantic interpretation of creativity is presented beautifully in this presentation by Elizabeth Gilbert.

But inspiring as the notion of mythical creatures helping us with our ideas might be, the goal of Crinid is to make creativity more tangible, so we can learn and grow in our ability to create Great Ideas. And as creativity is such an important factor of a Great Idea, we should take a look at some of the alternative and more tangible theories on creativity.

We start our exploration inside the machine that I think is still responsible for our own ideas – the human mind. Continue reading »

A short film called ‘Future by Design’, about a modern day Da Vinci by the name of Jacque Fresco. Jacque Fresco designs, envisions and invents for a better future that frees humanity and creates a sustainable earth in a project called the ‘The Venus Project‘.

“When you try to think about the future, remember this: The process with which you think about things, is based upon indoctrination. So your range of thought is limited by the dominant values of your society”

- Futurist Jacque Fresco