We like to think we will get shit done and change things by debating the crap out of everything. Everything is an argument. This is how we have always done things so lets keep doing it right? We love a good dichotomy. It's always us vs them, Left vs Right, Art vs Science, Godzilla vs King Kong (2020 apparently) It isn't useful or constructive and I'd like to thank Socrates for this- cue Bill and Ted...
Bill: So-cratz - "The only true wisdom consists in knowing that you know nothing".
Ted: That's us, dude.
So yes, the basis of Socratic Method is debate to stimulate critical thinking, defend a point of view, weaken your opponents position by getting them to contradict themselves and generally it is some adversarial posturing. Thats nice. You can watch the monkeys you vote for do this on a daily basis.
And that is the problem. Argument is inadequate as a tool of thinking and of change because it has no ability to design and create. Change comes slowly if at all. Is is highly inefficient.
De Bono put forward Parallel Thinking as an alternative to the dialectic approach. It encourages a full exploration of the possibilities. Throw a bunch of ideas out there and explore them all. One (that's you) is free to contribute with knowledge, facts and feelings. Squee! That's the freaking trifecta right there. That's the beginning of building amazing and world changing things. And we really do need to change the world right now.
You can bet that Elon Musk and the kids at Tesla don't bother playing mental ping pong when they come up with the next cool thing that will rock your world. No, they use "first principles" whereby they boil things down to the most fundamental truths and build from there. They use a variety of different perspectives to build from assuming that complex tasks require multiple representations of knowledge. Then they make stuff. Change things. Blow our minds.
Thank goodness because quite frankly Tesla et al are the only light at the end of the tunnel that isn't just a train coming the other way right now.
In my heart my hope is that Art and Science will fall in love with each other now that they are on both on the bad side of the prevalent "Right Wing" fence. They will run away together, have late night collaborative discussions over red wine and lead the revolution whereby they invent the sustainable, glorious future and sell it to us in every little consumer decision we make. I'd buy that. Take my money.
Oh stop arguing, there is no Us and Them. Hold hands and make this shit work or we all go down together. Seriously.
Mwah.
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