199 lines
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199 lines
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(word processor parameters LM=8, RM=75, TM=2, BM=2)
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Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501
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Sponsored by Vangard Sciences
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PO BOX 1031
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Mesquite, TX 75150
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There are ABSOLUTELY NO RESTRICTIONS
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on duplicating, publishing or distributing the
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files on KeelyNet except where noted!
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July 5, 1993
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CLARK6.ASC
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This file shared with KeelyNet courtesy of John Draper.
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Notes and Quotations on Thinking
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by
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Richard L. Clark, Ph.D.
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Before going into very controversial subjects that are contrary to
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currently held fixed opinions, vested financial, academic and social
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interests and personal emotional prejudices, it is necessary to
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remind the reader that thinking requires care in application and an
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open attitude of judgement.
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Edward de Bono made several valuable contributions to the knowledge
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of human thought processes. Two inherent limitations of the data
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processing (thinking) in humans, is the sequence or step method used
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and the self organizing storage of mental data by the brain system.
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There are two aspects of this inherent limitation in the handling
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of information by a self organizing memory surface. The first
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aspect is the necessity to preceed by steps which can only
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reflect experience, which may be first or secondhand.
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Abstractions or combinations of separate experiences are
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possible, but they remain experience dominated. The collection
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of new information is also experience dominated since new
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information is only selected if it fits in with existing patterns
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-- relevance is all important......
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Arrogance in thinking does prevent the emergence of new ideas, to
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paraphrase de Bono.
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The third basic principle of lateral thinking is the realization
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that vertical thinking by its very nature is not only ineffective
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in generating new ideas, but also positively inhabiting. There
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is an extreme type of temperament which compulsively seeks for
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tight control of what goes on in the mind; everything has to be
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logically analyzed and synthesized. ...This is an extreme type
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of mind, but there are a great number of minds which show
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this inclination to lesser degrees.
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Dr. James L. Adams, Director of the Design Division of the Stanford
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School of Engineering, teaches thinking as opposed to reacting.
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Page 1
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Cultural blocks are acquired by exposure to a given set of
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cultural patterns.
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...Some examples of cultural blocks are:
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o Fantasy and reflection are a waste of time, lazy even
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crazy.
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o Playfulness is for children only.
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o Problem solving is a serious business and humor is out
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of place.
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o Reason, logic numbers, utility and practicality are
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good; feeling, intuition, qualitative judgements, and
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pleasure are bad.
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o Tradition is preferable to change.
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o Any problem can be solved by scientific thinking and
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lots of money.
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Returning to the work of de Bono on why human thinking "locks up" in
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most people, let us look at dominant ideas and crucial factors.
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Everyone is confidant that they know what they are talking about,
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reading about or writing about but if you ask them to pick out
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the dominant idea, there is difficulty in doing so. It is
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difficult to convert a vague awareness into a definite statement.
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Unless one can pick out the dominant idea, one is going to be
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dominated by it. The dominate idea resides not in the situation
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itself but in the way it is looked at. A crucial factor is some
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element of the situation which must always be included no matter
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how one looks at the situation. Like a dominate idea, a crucial
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factor can immobilize a situation and make it impossible to shift
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a point of view.
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This leads into the area of concepts, divisions, and polarizations
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as covered by de Bono.
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A limited and coherent attention span arises directly from the
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mechanics of the self maximizing memory surface that is mind.
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This limited attention span means that one only reacts to a bit
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of the total environment. Separation into units, selection of
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units, and combination of units in different ways together,
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provide a very powerful information processing system. When a
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unit is obtained by dividing up the total situation or by putting
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together other units, it establishes it as a pattern in its own
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right instead of just being part of another pattern. The named
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assemblies of units (which are called concepts) are even more
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restricting because they impose a rigid way of looking at a
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situation. The dangers of the polarizing tendency may now be
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summarized: Once established, the categories become permanent.
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New information is altered so that it fits an established
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category. Once it has done so, there is no indication that it is
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any different from anything else under that category. The fewer
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the categories the greater the degree of shift.
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Page 2
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Oakley worked out the theory of man's thought evolution and
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development based on a generic meaning of Man the Tool Maker. His
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balance point was between tradition and invention in social
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groupings.
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Human culture in all its diversity is the outcome of this
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capacity for conceptual thinking, but the leading factors in its
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development are tradition coupled with invention.
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Imagination, observation, deduction, and speculation ultimately
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led to art, science and religion, but at first these were
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scarcely separable from each other.
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Immanuel Velikovsky wrote the most controversial book of this
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century -- Worlds in Collision. His comments on thinking and
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reality vs. "law" is interesting.
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If, occasionally, historical evidence does not square with
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formulated laws, it should be remembered that a law is but a
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deduction from experience and experiment, and therefore laws must
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conform with historical facts, not facts with laws.
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And finally, let us look at the reception of anything that is new,
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controversial or different in general terms.
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N.I.H...is a technological slang acronym for Not Invented Here.
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The very existence of such a phrase in the jargon of technology
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attests to its ubiquity. The NIH reaction is as common as the
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gravel of the road and strikes all men with equal force.
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This data on thinking is the whole subject of these topic papers on
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thought systems of various types. But of primary importance is to
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be able to think about the information and processes of thinking
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itself.
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******
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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If you have comments or other information relating to such topics
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as this paper covers, please upload to KeelyNet or send to the
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Vangard Sciences address as listed on the first page.
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Thank you for your consideration, interest and support.
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Jerry W. Decker.........Ron Barker...........Chuck Henderson
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Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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If we can be of service, you may contact
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Jerry at (214) 324-8741 or Ron at (214) 242-9346
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Page 3
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