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michaelhopkins
FM Editor
Member Since:
06 Dec 2005
Posts:82
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12 Dec 2005 1:44 PM |
3 have marked this post as Insightful
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The most exciting phrase to hear, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it) but "That's funny...."
--Isaac Asimov, sci-fi novelist, futurist, philosopher
An Asimov Moment is a moment when something makes you curious. It could be something you see, or something you experience, or something someone told you, or something that came to you in your head while taking the proverbial shower. It's not an epiphany, exactly (since epiphanies are all about answers), but it is a moment when you're struck by something that you feel is a piece of evidence--even you're not sure what it's evidence of. Not "Eureka!," but "That's funny...."
Please submit your Asimov Moments--observations, anecdotes, etc.--by going to the Asimov Moment block on most FutureMonitor pages and clicking the "submit an Asimov" link. Your submissions will be considered by us at FutureMonitor and chosen for posting and discussion.
Please send! We're eager to see.
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lrivera
Member Since:
30 Jan 2006
Posts:7
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02 Feb 2006 8:58 PM |
1 have marked this post as Insightful
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I fully agree, true disruptions occur when you encounter the unexpected, not when you find what you are looking for. And I will add that to encounter the unexpected you need an open mind.
The example I like most is how Alexender Fleming discovered Penicilin because "his samples were spoiled". I wonder how many doctors had lived through the same situation without having the talent to see further (and Im quite sure most of them were looking for ways to save lives)
A really insightful quote I just added to my "favorite list"
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HowardRheingold
Member Since:
16 Dec 2005
Posts:22
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05 Feb 2006 7:07 PM |
1 have marked this post as Insightful
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Charles Goodyear discovered vulcanized rubber by playing close attention to an unintended result, as well:
http://users.wfu.edu/jameam5/Serendipity.htm
While boiling gum with sulfur on his wife's cooking stove, Goodyear let
fall a lump of the material on the hot stove, and it immediately
vulcanized. He deduced through reasoning and further experiments that
the more sulfur added to the mixture, the stiffer the material.
Goodyear finally discovered that by using pressurized steam for four to
six hours at 270 degrees Farenheight, he could produce the most uniform
results.
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lrivera
Member Since:
30 Jan 2006
Posts:7
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17 Mar 2006 12:57 AM |
0 have marked this post as Insightful
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The Best: Accidental DiscoveriesArticle on Wiredhttp://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.03/start.html?pg=3
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peter_luttik55
Member Since:
18 May 2006
Posts:5
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06 Jun 2006 9:44 AM |
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Major asimov moment was when we started looking for laughable ideas during a search for new concepts for agricultural development. The idea that you get more usefull ideas as you seek to become less serious. Looking for the unexpected combinations is not just fun and funny, but essential if we want innovation to go beyond the extension of the present. This work included thinking through horrible and heavenly scenario's as a source of the tension for which laughter can provide a usefull release - accompanied by an often usefull new concept/notion/idea.
Strategists need to reclaim the "joker" position, which our predecessors had prior to machiavelli. At least if we want to be usefull instead of respected !
Maybe this forum needs a funnies page
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lannygoodman
Member Since:
03 Jul 2006
Posts:3
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03 Jul 2006 1:39 AM |
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surely asimov meant funny="odd" as opposed to funny="ha ha". seems to me it's when our understanding of how things are has just suffered a head on collision with some piece of information which does not tidily fit into our worldview and the implications of which is that our worldview is about to undergo a major revision.
my major asimov moment came after reading meg wheatly's leadership and the new science. i realized that most of current management theory and practice was rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic; that the whole edifice of modern management thought was built on an obsolete paradigm and that our next step was going to have to be revolutionary, not evolutionary.
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peter_luttik55
Member Since:
18 May 2006
Posts:5
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04 Jul 2006 3:11 PM |
2 have marked this post as Insightful
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I guess it depends on your sense of humor - which differs among people. However, the serious odd is in my view at a disadvantage to the open laughter because laughter is often a result of strange, unexpected new combinations. The odd feeling raises the question, but the funny joke may point towards new solutions and directions. Until now unsearched places. Great books like a short history of time and the equally brilliant history of nothing have a joke allready in the title, which in itself poses the major question about time and the non existant.
Alexander the great must have thought it a joke when he cut the knot. A typical creative Asimov moment for him. Of course - after the fact the initial surprise is gone and what remains is the oddness. Rearranging the deckshares is odd. learning the titanic passengers how to swim may sound silly, but is of course also quite a good metofore for the new science - and thus a slightly stale joke.
During the very serious study of the effects of the disappearance of agriculture out of the dutch landscape, the real asimov moment was that we needed to start having fun if we wanted to find really new solutions (the other strong emotions like anger and fear where better at making ideas work). Seafarming in innudation scenario's and the virtualisation of nature all started as jokes and evolved from there to serious propositions.
The result of the seriousness of the world of management and government is seen dayly in the predictable and boring results the produce. Lets dare to have to mobilize all the creative capacities that laughter (and our other emotions) enable.
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chrismeyer
Member Since:
20 Dec 2005
Posts:33
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03 Aug 2006 5:13 PM |
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As someone who has used the Asimov quote in speeches for a decade or so, I'm delighted by the discussion above, which finds new (for me) meaning in "that's funny." While I agree with Lanny Goodman that Asimove intended "funny" to mean "odd" (in part because I believe he said "Gee, that's funny" But I fully agree with Peterluttic55 that reading "funny" as "laughable" gives good results as well. Research has shown that it is not a myth that many people have many of their ideas in the shower, hypothesizing that the physical relaxation leads to a lowering of people's guard and thus increasing acceptance of unexpected ideas--laughing at the unexpected could follow a similar generative logic.
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Asimov Moment
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"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discovery, is not 'Eureka' (I found it!), but 'That's funny...' " - Isaac Asimov.
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