Walter Isaacson, president of the Aspen Institute, addressed the NAICU Annual Meeting on Monday afternoon, using the example of past genius to explore the connection between creativity, education and their role in society. His conclusion: "compromisers don't make great heros, but they do make great democracy."Citing the examples of Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein, Isaacson found that the creation of genius requires far more than education. Also required are leaps of imagination and the quest for new ways of thinking. In the case of Benjamin Franklin, the breakthrough was the idea of education as a device to turn people into useful citizens of the world. In the case of Albert Einstein, it was the concept of visual thought experiments - rather than simply reading, visualize how the concepts interplay in a real setting.
Isaacson concluded that using these past thinkers as an example, it is clear that smart people are a dime a dozen. What sets genius apart is the combination of smart with creativity, imagination, and the questioning of conventional wisdom. The ability to compromise and find common ground allows imagination and creativity to breach the wall of standardized thought, allowing new concepts and ideas to flourish.
View images of this session.
No comments:
Post a Comment