Imagination and the future economy

The Imagination Age is a way to define the period in which we currently live, between the fading Industrial Era and the coming Intelligence Era, in which machines will be smarter than people.
From an interview with Rita King in Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/drewhansen/2012/08/06/imagination-future-economy/

Can you imagine the impossible?

An article by Michael Michalko shared via Francois Coetzee

"When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge." ......Albert Einstein


http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/creative-thinkering/201112/can-you-imagine-the-impossible

Do constraints force us to be more crearive?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-barry-kaufman/does-creativity-require-c_b_948460.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

Are children less imaginative and creative than they used to be?

It may sound like the complaint of a jaded adult, but the youth today are less creative and imaginative as they used to be, scientists have found.http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Creativity-humour-on-decline-among-children/articleshow/9843997.cms?intenttarget=no

John Seeley Brown: On Creativity

Link to video shared by Tara Grey Coste
http://thecuriousbrain.com/?p=24259

The Elusive Big Idea

Ideas just aren’t what they used to be. Once upon a time, they could ignite fires of debate, stimulate other thoughts, incite revolutions and fundamentally change the ways we look at and think about the world. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/opinion/sunday/the-elusive-big-idea.html?_r=4&pagewanted=all

The Age of Imagination

The Age of Imagination: Placing Art and Design at the Centre
by Sara Diamond, President, Ontario College of Art and Design
http://www.ocad.ca/Assets/pdf_media/unused_pdfs/Age_of_Imagination_Oulu.pdf.pdf

How 20 bad ideas can kick-start your imagination.

It’s quite simple, really. The general premise is that it’s impossible to come up with 20 good ideas. But it’s equally impossible to come up with 20 bad ideasMore here: http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2011/06/26/creativity-20-bad-ideas/

Seven ways to generate business ideas

Welcome to World Creativity and Innovation Week, where we encourage and celebrate everyone’s ability to get new ideas, use their imagination and make new decisions to make the world a better place. It’s what successful entrepreneurs do every day. http://www.marsdd.com/2011/04/15/seven-ways-to-generate-business-ideas

Creativity in Action

Grifen Hope - a kiwi - and Javiera Carrión discuss the planning and transition of El Manzano, Chile into a sustainable future. Lessons for all of us.

More here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr0pet1K3ag&feature=player_embedded#

Reclaiming the imagination

Article from the New York Times
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/reclaiming-the-imagination/

Imagination

From my friend Joe Miguez - the Labyrinth man.

What is imagination?.....

" The faculty of imagination," wrote Dugald Stewart," is the principal source of human improvement."..... THE MINDS' EYE.--- Human imagination enables us to transcend mortal limitations of space and time, to experience what was, what can be , what can never be; It opens vistas that are not available to the senses."

By his imagination," writes Frank Barron, "man makes new universes which are never to the hearts desire."

The sorcery and charm of imagination and the power it gives to the individual to transform his world into a new world of order and delight makes it one of the most treasures of all human capacities.....

This is from the 2nd edition - Experiences in Visual Thinking by Robert H Mckim.

Imagination First

I read a lot of books about creativity and innovation.
This one was recommended to me by my friend Joe Miguez. Imagination First is about cultivating the imagination based on the premise that imagination unlocks the power of possibility. Authors Eric Liu and Scott Noppe-Brandon offer a very simple continuum placing imagination first. They call this the ICI Continuum. Imagination [defined as the capacity to conceive of what is not] is followed by creativity [imagination applied], which is followed by innovation [defined as novel creativity].
The book then goes on to briefly describe 28 and a half practices to develop imagination. There are chapters like "Untie your tongue", "Talk about your work with someone who doesn't understand it" and "Design for the hallway: Let informal spaces thrive".
At the end of the book the authors comment; "In these pages we've offered you some new ways to see seeing. Now its up to you to find some new was of doing."
They continue. "But before any of this, changing yourself and the world demands a purpose-fed, positively charged, playful imagination. It demands imagination first."
I am inclined to agree! Well worth the read.

Imagination and Fantasy

"People who are able voluntarily to enter the realm of fantasy - to take a theme, and then let an imaginative scenario unfold like a dream or a movie - have been found to be more creative than those who cannot. Interestingly, adults with more accessible and more powerful fantasy lives report that they have cultivated their powers of imagination since childhood. As children they were more likely to have engaged in imaginative play, and to have been able to 'lose themselves' in the fantasy world of a book, than were adults with less vivid or less ready imaginations. It is tempting to read this, conversely, as indicating that some children may be beginning to lose their imaginative birthright even at quite young ages."

A worrying trend?

Source: Claxton, Guy. (2001) Wise Up: Learning to live the learning life. Network Educational Press Limited: UK