Wk1 reading - Thinking Outside the Box

The ebook Art of the Possible is a fascinating book and caught my interest right away.  For probably the last 3 years I have been pondering this process of being able to think outside the constructed framework of our existence.  The authors indicate that many of the rules and conventions we live by are just artificial in nature, and thus we can choose not to follow them. One of the things they do not mention however is this can be a double edged sword.  A person like Seth Godin thinks outside the usual guidelines, but a person like Charles Manson did too.

I do believe however that history is littered with people who could take advantage of situations because they could see something that others could not.  Before World War 2, France had constructed a large elaborate set of fortifications called the Maginot Line to guard its' border with Germany.  While this would have been good in World War 1, advances in mechanized warfare such as tanks and aircraft made fixed defenses useless.  As it turned out, Germany just invaded Belgium, then invaded France through there, thus going around the defenses entirely.  Another example is the loss of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia.  Both were lost really because NASA had grown complacent about problems that had been in the system from the start.  Especially with Columbia, they though since they had been loosing foam from the External Tank for 100+ flights, it was no problem.  Actually though, they were rolling the dice each time and Columbia finally lost.

In the last 5 years I have lived with two guiding quotations. Ken Robinson said "If you are not prepared to be wrong, then you will never come up with anything original".  I like that.  The second is by Ralph Waldo Emerson.  He said "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."  I liked it so much that I did this video on this idea for Kathy Craven's film class.