Overall Impression: This panel had lots of good ideas about ideas in general. I think the best of it covered ideas about sharing ideas and about how we go about evaluating other's ideas.
Simon Hoggart:
This was my first panel of the week. At 9:00 a.m. Monday I was not quite warmed up so I did not get quite all of the gist here. The essence as I got it was that Simon covered the tendency of power figures to come up with bad ideas. He mentioned the "Divine Right of Kings," as well as Marx, astrology, the Church of Scientology and an African dictator and gave examples of how they managed to sell bad ideas to the masses.
- Astrology tells you its not your fault.
- Cults tell you you are special and stand out from the herd. They promise you a special relationship with God.
- Your independence depends on asking of each new idea, "What's in it for me? What's in it for them? Is it utter nonsense?
Philip Plait:
Founder of the website badastronomy.com Philip has some good ideas about bad ideas. The power of a bad idea is what we give it. Human nature has a need for magic. Like in Oz, we don't like to look behind the curtain, because knowing takes the magic out of things. We thus tend to believe what we hear and do not listen to ideas and evaluate them.
- Charlatans pass out 90% of the information they have, knowing the last 10% negates their argument.
- When playing a guessing game with his daughter he kept changing the rules to keep her thinking. This is not as cruel as it sounds, but the idea that we need to help our kids learn to think better is a good one.
- Key Critical Question: How are they misleading you?
- (regarding website) One idiot, in one minute can say something that takes three days to debunk.
Jean Houston:
She had four major bad idea categories. They are summarized in the list below. The key point though was that we need more ideas, good, bad, and intermediate. Spawn lots of ideas and let the good ones catch on. It is kind of like evolution. Try lots of things and see what survives.
- Bio-mimicry: We are producing monocultures in our farmlands. This produces unstable systems that are highly susceptable to variations in climate for example. Contrast this with the robust biodiversity you seen in a wild field or forest. (For more on this read the potato chapter in the book "Botany of Desire.")
- Normality: "A normal person is someone you don't know very well." Ritalin is being used to cure people's uniqueness.
- Education: We are losing verbal, linear, and analytical skills in our children. The quality of education is being watered down. In the 1800s education started training students for the skills they need to work in a factory. She never met a stupid child, only stupid systems.
- No Humor in Government: George Bush is bright, but in a very narrow band.
Limor Shiponi:
There are no bad ideas. It is only when you put them in practice. As a newborn mother about day 5 the stress builds. Wanting to throw your child out the window is normal. Actually doing it is wrong.
- Somebody can always find a good reason for a bad idea.
QUESTION and ANSWER
What is the Next Bad Idea?
Be non-judgemental.
MISCELLANEOUS IDEAS
- Create diverse models and let the good ones catch on.
- In journalism you are doing a good job of covering a story if both sides are angry at you.
- In India, when speaking, they start of with, "My darshana is...," which means they start by stating what their viewpoint or perspective is before they state their idea.
- "A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a meta-for?" - Robert Browning (I think)
- "My husband was just to the right of Ghengis Khan."
- There is a difference betweeen sharing an idea and hitting someone with an anvil.