by Rick Baker
On Apr 8, 2011
I re-read the notes I made a few years ago while reading Dr. de Bono’s book ‘Water Logic’.
In that book Dr. de Bono describes 3 types of questions.
Here is an excerpt from my notes…
Three Types of Questions:
- A Shooting Question...we know what we are aiming at and the answer is 'yes' or 'no'.
- A Fishing Question...we bait the hook and wait to see what turns up. An open-ended search for information.
- A Trapping Question...we prepare the trap to suit what we want to catch. This is exactly the same as pre-concept.
Straightforward…and I like the metaphor style.
A sampling of de Bono quotes:
Quotes that fit our Seek Simple philosophy…
Dealing with complexity is an inefficient and unnecessary waste of time, attention and mental energy. There is never any justification for things being complex when they could be simple.
One very important aspect of motivation is the willingness to stop and to look at things that no one else has bothered to look at. This simple process of focusing on things that are normally taken for granted is a powerful source of creativity.
Sometimes the situation is only a problem because it is looked at in a certain way. Looked at in another way, the right course of action may be so obvious that the problem no longer exists.
Quotes that fit our views of the value of Humour…
Humour is by far the most significant activity of the human brain.
It has always surprised me how little attention philosophers have paid to humour, since it is a more significant process of mind than reason. Reason can only sort out perceptions, but the humour process is involved in changing them.
Many highly intelligent people are poor thinkers. Many people of average intelligence are skilled thinkers. The power of a car is separate from the way the car is driven.
Most of the mistakes in thinking are inadequacies of perception rather than mistakes of logic.
Footnote: