Sat 04 May 2002 09:08
the thought that stacy could come over here and say something to me is keeping me on edge. that is part of the game/cost of playing.

from Ed de Bono _Six Thinking Hats_ 1999
p63
...Write it off as an essential learning experience rather than an error in judgement. Learning is always expensive. We won't have to go through it again.

[the main points de Bono has to make in each chapter are summariezed by the phrases (phrazes) in italics at the beginning of each chapter.]


Can thinking change emotions?
The emotional background.
Emotions as bargaining positions.
Emotions, values and choices.


...We all know that these negotiations are taking place against a background of extreme suspicion. Let us try to imagine what our thinking would be if each side really trusted the other side.

...There is a feeling that what we decide here is not going to make much difference. Events have taken over. Let us imagine that this is not so and that we do have it in our power to control things.

p64 emotions part of the map
in designing solutions to disputes we can then keep clear of such areas.

p65
Emotions are often used to establish bargaining positions.
Something has one value for one party and a different value for the other party.

It is generally agreed that the ultimate purpose of any thinking must be the satisfaction of the thinker.
difficulty on three counts:
will proposed action really satisfy thinker?
does it satisfy thinker at expense of others?
does it satisfy thinker in the short term at expense of longterm?
(or vice versa)
[2,3 boil down to 1]

p67 ch 15
Emotions do not have to be logical or consistent
Emotions can be fine-tuned with language to match.
Resist the temptation to justify emotions.

... You like the idea of an office in New York. There is no need to go into the details of why you like the idea. That could come later when we near a decision on the matter.

We are brought up to apologize for emotions and feelings because they are

[honesty without compassion is violence?]

We are brought up to apologize for emotions and feelings because they are not the stuff of logical thinking. That is why we tend to treat them as an extension of logic. If we dislike someone, there must be a good reason for this.

There may be more danger in prejudices which are apparently founded in logic than in those which are acknowledged as emotions.

probing for the foundation of emotions is not part of the red hat idiom/abstraction/pattern.

It is possible to be in favor of involvement in the abstract, but against it when the abstract is translated into concrete terms.

p68
There are cultures that have as many [20] words for the various nuances of love.

[did I discourage response because I fear the worst?]
[is it just that my mind is jealous of the time that could be taken in continuing interacting with her?]

[do I fear the effects of being friendly and positive? Is that fear reasonable? erecting barriers to communication so that those who do continue to communicate with me, I know they are (1) pursuing something they perceive value in, and (2) persistent, not passive depressives? Imagine rewriting the letter in a wholly loving, positive tone?]

English and many European languages do not have a wide ranage of emotion-indicating words in common usage.

...There is a sense of quiet deflation about this venture. Not a loss of enthusiasm but rather something resembling a very slow leak in an inflated rubber dinghy.

The red hat gives a thinker the liberty to be more of a poet with his or her feelings. The red hat gives feelings the right to be made visible.


p69
de Bono differentiates between ordinary emotions as we know them, fear, dislike, suspicions, and the complex judgments that go into hunch, intuition, sense, taste, aesthetic feeling.                                                                                             kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkdd

2002-05-04-1132
I was falling asleep and decided to take a nap.
Is it because I eat too much that I fall asleep? I've been drinking more milk (organic) since it seems to keep me from lacking energy. It could just be more fat.
Stacy came by and was nice, and said thanks... She looks exquisite, one of those people who looks absolutely perfect/makes effort to look perfect (and succeeds). That's almost it, but she says she has something for me that she will drop by later... Oh! My! G-D!

relax colin.

from Ed de Bono _Six Thinking Hats_ 1999
p71 The Black Hat
The black hat is the most used of all the hats.
Perhaps the most important hat.
hat of caution.
One silly mistake and we could be wiped out no matter how creative we might be.

basis of western civ, because the black hat is the basis of critical thinking.

based on a natural mechanism in the brain. the "mismatch" mechanism.

if we come across something that does not match these existing patterns, then we feel very uncomfortable.

Ch17 p73 main points:
How something does not fit our experience.
Why something may not work.
Pointing out difficulties and problems.
Staying within the law.
Keeping to values and ethics.

Black hat thinking is always logical.

p74
It ihas been suggested that there should be just one hat called judgement. Under this hat the thinker would look for the pros and cons of a situation.
The brain can be sensitized in only one direction at a time.

p75
...I am all in favor of appointing Peter to this post. But it would be sensible to have some black hat thinking here.


p76
In its design role, the black hat points out the weaknesses so that those weaknesses can be put right.

p77 Ch 18 Black Hat Thinking
content and process
main points:
Point out errors in thinking
Question the strength of the evidence.
Does the conclusion follow?
Is it the only possible conclusion?

A great deal of traditional Western argument attacks the process of the argument: if the process is incorrect, then the conclusion cannot be correct. In fact, the conclusion can indeed be correct, but has not been proved to be correct.

p78 So the thinker should note and accumulate the main points of criticism and put them forward only when the black hat is in use.

...the figures you have been given are five years old. We do not have more up-to-date figures. (white hat)

p78 Far too often proof is no more than lack of imagination.

p79 In the real world it is very difficult to be certain. Action has to be taken on likelihood.

In the end there should be a clear map of possible problems, obstacles, difficulties and dangers.

p81 Black hat thinking, the past and future
What is likely to happen in the future?
Does this fit past experience?
What are the risks?

In academic thinking it is enough to describe, to analyze, and to offer explanations. IN the real world there is the action element -- which I sometimes call operacy.

What will happen if we take this action?
Will it be acceptable?
Do we have the resources to do it?
How will people react?

we have to base speculations about the future on our own experience and on the experience of others.

I see a danger..

p85
ch20 BH thinking the problem of overuse
It is easy to be critical
some people enjoy being only critical (not me)
the need to contribute.

It is easier to criticise a chair than to design a chair.
By deliberately choosing a concept that is different from the one presented it is always possible to criticize--if you are so inclined.

Yes... but- the easiest sort of contribution.

It is less useful at the assessment stage when the excellent 95 percent should be acknowledged.

p85
in the argument habit it is permissible to make negative comments at any point.

p87
the purpose of bh thinking is to put caution points on the map.

-just as the dangerous and reckless driving of a car [management of a nuclear power plant] does not mean that cars [nuclear power plants] are dangerous.wtf???

An environment in which cars are driven is much more dangerous than the same environment in which cars are not driven.

driven cars are dangerous.
most cars are driven
cars are dangerous.

do the perceived benefits of use of a dangerous device outweigh the perceived costs?

p89 The Yellow Hat

that means being as sensitive to value as we already are sensitive to danger"value sensitivity"

Unfortunately, the people present do not see the value in their own ideas. It is a waste of time setting out to be creative if you are not going to recognize a good idea.

Even the most unattractive ideas can be found to have some value.

The YH is a judgement hat based on reason, not fantasy.

p91 YH Speculative-positive
Positive thinking.
Optimism.
...etc.

Positive thinking has to be a mixture of curiosity, pleasure, greed and the desire to "make things happen."

In my book about success, _Tactics: The art and science of success_ the one thing that characterized successful people was this overwhelming desire to make things happen.

[being able to press pubic bone to the floor without penis in the way (because of its position) makes me think of those women in... those writhing female bodies. The women acrobats are freer than the men in some respects. I was wondering if the female crotch could be used as a handhold, and I believe it was so used, briefly, with those four on the large trapeze, in addition to it being more straightforward to do backbends from the hips while face down on the floor.]

p93
... I have this idea of selling potato chips in a twin pack. No one seems to like it. Will you yellow hat it for me?

p94
There may be very powerful positive points that are not at all obvious at first sight. That is how entrepreneurs work. The see the value that those around them have not yet spotted. Value and benefit are by no means always obvious.

[stacy works with color coordinating in unique combinations that would not be appropriate for traditional ski wear--masculine/macho snowboarder sports--she says.]

[a slight infection at the edge of one eyelid? left lower?]

p96
look at the action that follows the optimism.
If that action is to be no more than hope then...

_It is those who expect to succeed who do succeed._

likelihood classification:
Proven
Very likely based on experience and what we know.
Good chance --through a combination of different things
Even chance.
no better than possible
Remote or long shot.

similar to white hat.

We may choose never to back up a long shot, but it needs to be on the map.

p 100
What I so strongly object to is the notion that it is enough to train critical minds. This has been the tradition of Western thinking and it is inadequate.

Where does the proposal come from? Who has been trained to put forward the proposal?

It is to YH thinking that the constructive and generative aspect is left.

[salmon rudshie's _FURY_]

constructive thinking

ch26
YH thinking, speculation
Looking into the future.
The value of "if."
The best possible scenario.

p106
people are forced to solve problems, but no one is ever forced to look for opportunities.

p107 vision goes beyond speculation because vision can set a goal which there is little hope of reaching.

p108
the designer sells himself a positive vision of what he is trying to do. The vision comes first and then the form and detail follow.

...I have this vision of thinking being taught as a fundamental subject in every school.

p109 ch27 Yh thinking relation to creativity
difference between constructive and creative
Effectiveness and change.
new ideas and old ideas.

Creativity is concerned with change, innovation, invention, new ideas, and new alternatives.
A person can be an excellent YH thinker and never have a new idea.

The effective application of old ideas is a proper exercise of YH.

effectiveness rather than novelty is what YH is about.

p110
YH is not concerned with changing concepts or perceptions.

p111
YH can define an opportunity and leave it to green hat thinking to come up with some novel way of exploiting that opportunity.

p115 Green Hat
The deliberate allocation of time to creative effort is very important. It acknowledges that creativity is a key ingredient in thinking.

Under the gh one is permitted to put forward possibilities.

without possibilities, you cannot make progress.
2000 years ago, chinese tech was way ahead of Western tech.
the Chinese did not develop the hypothesis--key piece of mental software.

"we could do this or this or this"

p117
creative thinking
New ideas, new concepts, new perceptions.
The deliberate creation of new ideas.
Alternatives and more alternatives.
change.
New approaches to problems.

p118
the urge to do things in a better way should be the background to all our thinking.

In the exercise of creative thinking, it may be necessary to put forward as provocations ideas that are deliberately illogical.

new ideas are delicate seedlings which need the green hat to protect them from the instant frost of black hat habits.

use green hat to signal to yourself.

You may have no new ideas at all, but the effort has been made.

p119
creativity involves provocation, exploration, and risk taking.

Creativity involves "thought experiments."

...Under the protection of the green hat, I want to suggest that we fire the sales force.

p120 if you spend more time searching for alternatives,

very often creative people are only people who spend more time trying to be creative because they are more motivated by creativity.

with green hat thinking, however, we cannot demand an input. we can demand an effort.

p121
the term lateral thinking needed to be invented for two reasons.
creativity seems to cover everything from creating confusion to creating a symphony.

p124
...I want you to use this idea for its movement value not its judgement value. Suppose everyone became a policeman.

this provocation led to the "neighborhood watch" concept.

p125 We move forward with an idea or from an idea.

p126
Movement should go far beyond the positive assessment of an idea. Movement is a dynamic process not a judgement process.

What is interesting in this idea? What is different in this idea? What does the idea suggest? What does this idea lead to?

in GH thinking the movement idiom completely replaces the judgement idiom.

p127
The logic of provocation arises directly from the logic of asymmetric pa

Erin did not learn of ed de bono in school but from a professor she thinks?

_Children solve problems_ by Edward de Bono 1972

p9 the emphasis is still on doing things 'as they should be done.' This emphasis not only makes it unnecessary to think, but is also dangerous for the unfortunate pupil who comes up with an unacceptable, new point of view. To be fair it should perhaps be added that this method of transferring knowledge is sometimes quite effective if that is what you want to achieve, but the knowledge may not outlast the exams for which it is stored.

p10 the idea that thinking is a learnable activity is already taken for granted in business and computing.

from the computer world comes the idea of 'heuristics,' which includes all those aspects of thinking which cannot be fitted into mathematical formulations.

p10 It has been said that education serves two functions supremely well: it preserves its own jobs and it keeps children out of the home.

from back cover--fwiw Their ideas may often be impractical, but they produce them with a fluency, a zest and an irrepressible imagination which ought to be the envy of many an adult, and especially those who are paid to solve difficult problems.

2002-05-04-1728
swimming is a disruption,

female

Ed de Bono _Six Thinking Hats_ 1999

The logic of provocation arises directly from the logic of asymmetric patterning systems (see Po: Beyond Yes and No).

We can sit around and wait for provocations, or we can set out to produce them deliberately.

lateral thinking - to move to another place to see same thing from different perspective?

po - provocative operation

if an idea is put forward under the protection of po, to shoot it down with Black Hat judgement would not be playing the game.

... Po cars should have square wheels (amen)
..Po shoppers should be paid to buy things.
...Po a polluting factory should be downstream of itself.

This last provocation led to the idea of legislating that any factory built alongside a river must have its water input downstream from its own output.

[the effect of telling someone else she's made a mistake]

p129 as we move forward from the provocation..

simple way is to reverse the usual

If someone brings you an idea which you do not like, and can instantly dismiss with black hat, try po'ing it.

p130 to get a provocation-
use a random word.
Nouns easier than verbs. List of nouns easier than dict.

cigarette po frog.

television po cheese
po the tv screen has holes.

With logic there should be a reason for saying something before it is said. With a provocation there may not be a reason for saying something until after it is said.

p131
Yet in the logic of an asymmectric patterning system, it is easy to see why a random word works. It provides a different starting point. As we trace our way back from that new starting point, we increase the chance of arriving back along a track we would never have taken when thinking about the subject directly.

when wearing the green hat you use provocation and movement as the grammar of creativity.

p132
ch 33
Too easily satisfied.
Routes, options, choices.
Levels of alternative.

[thinking of joanna now--I sent her a message earlier & shee replied--off an on, in a daydream state, not as focused on my reading]

as soon as they have an answer to a problem, they stop thinking.

So we ack the first answer and note we can always go bak to it. then look for alternatives.

[the problem may be solved. sick how easy it is to get unstuck. I should have seen it coming.]

p136
when to work within the given framework and when to break out of it.

the creative pause.

p137
we are so problem-oriented that when there are no problems we prefer to move along smoothly rather than to pause to create more thinking work for ourselves.

pause and green hat the steering wheel of a car.

p139
If we make no effort to develop the skill of creativity, it can only be a matter of talent and personality.

p141
ch34
what happens next?
Shaping and tailoring ideas.
The concept manager.

One of the weakest aspects of creativity is the harvesting of ideas.

there may be some new concept directions
half-formed ideas
new principles.
shift in types of ideas generated
shift in perceived solution area
etc.

p142
constraints brought in as shapers and not as a rejection screen.

[what does stacy have in mind??? would be better if I could not hear her rummagings around/comings and goings.]

the needs of people who are going to have to act upon the idea

[is this like downloading a whole bunch of stuff just because I might need it later, all the while avoiding my main work?]

p143
at times this process may seem to border on the dishonest. nothing dishonest in designing a product for the buyer.

concept manager-
stimulating, collecting, and shepherding ideas.

p145 Blue hat for thinking about thinking

p147 we are thinking about the thinking needed to explore the subject.

p148
Thinking often proceeds as drift and waffle and reaction to what turns up from moment to moment. There is a background sense of purpose, but this is never spelled ot either as an overal objective or as subobjectives. Suggestions, judgemetn, criticism, information, and plain emotion are all mixed together in a sort of thinking stew.

p149
the pupil is encouraged to write the conclusion in the first line of the essay and the to use the essay to support that conclusion.
Thinking is used for support, not exploration.

thinking on one's own has much more need of a blue hat structure.

if we adopt the mapmaking type of thinking, we need to have strucutre.
the thinker needs some organizing structure, as the explorer needs some plan of procedure

p152
blue hat thinking
focus
asking the right questions.
defining the problem.
setting the thinking tasks.

The diff bet a good thinker and poor thinker often lies in the ability to focus. What should the thinking be about?

...Let's focus on what each of us wants from this holiday.

p153 focus spelled out in a definite manner.

p153 it is very often said that asking the right question may be the most important part of thinking.

fishing question-seeing what might turn up
shooting question--yes or no /hit or miss answer.

p154 what sort of outcome would we regard as successful?

p155 exploratory ideas on..

...we have not come up with any ideas for increasing the consumption of lamb.

p156 ch39 Blue hat thinking
program design.

step by step.
Software for thinking. !
Choreography. !

bh thinking- design software for thinking.

p157
...We should start by analyzing all the factors we must take into account in designing...
...we should start by mapping out the areas of agreement/disagreement/irrlevance in this dispute.

p159
complex sequence, but in practice each idiom flows naturally into the next one--like changing gears when driving.

p160
when there is a fixed program- tell everyone so they know what to expect and to hold comments for particular sessions.

most thinking is actually a mixt of black and white with unexpressed red.


p161 B H thinking
summaries and conclusions
observation and overview
Comment.
Summaries, conclusions, harvesting and reports.

p162
..let's summarize what we have achieved so far.

pull into shape a chaotic discussion

all in group:
each individually summarize what we feel has been achieved so far.

ch41 p164 control and monitoring
the chairperson
discipline and focus.
who is in change?

p165
in practice, quite a lot of overlap between the diff hats.

when  mode has been set, the thinkers should be making a conscious effort to think in that manner.

p166 it is precisely the discipline of trying to follow a thinking mode that is important.

p167
a powerful way of treating opposing ideas is to suppose that each one is correct under certain circumstances

best home method..

p168
the formality of the blue hat allows any thinker to be much more direct than would otherwise be the case.

p170
ch42 benefits of the 6h method

decisions seem to make themselves.

p171
what was hitherto carried out in an indiv's mind is now done systematically and in the open.

p172
conclusion
when thinking is clear and simple, it becomes more enjoyable and more effective.

[like gaining more powers without having a battle to fight]

2 purposes of the 6h concept
(1) simplify thinking by allowing a thinker to deal with one thing at a time.
thinker can deal with emotions, logic, information, hope, and creativity separately.

(2)Allow a switch in thinking.
an idiom that is definite without being offensive.
does not threaten a person's ego or personality.
to request certain types ofthinking.

p173
Or we may want to request that someone else at the discussion put on a particular hat.

the concept works best when it has become a common language.

all those who are in the habit of meeting to discuss things should be aware of the rules of the game.

www.edwdebono.com
debono.com


from _de Bono's Thinking Course_ 1994 Facts on File, Inc.

[the wrapping of a present...]

Ed de Bono
for over 25 years pioneered "thinking about thinking"

inventor of the L-Game, the simplest real game ever invented


pxi
wisdom - wide-angle camera lens
cleverness - sharp focus

the quality of our future will depend entirely on the quality of our thinking.

on a personal level, a community level, and on the world level.

in a rapidly changing world we are finding that our thinking is inadequate to meet the demands put upon it.

p2
so if intelligence is the horsepower of the car, then "thinking" is the skill with which that horsepower is used.

thinking is the operating skill through which intelligence acts upon experience.

1. if you have a powerful car then you need to improve your driving skills. If you do not improve your driving skills then you will not be able to make full use of the available power. You may also be a danger to others.

2. if you have a less powerful car you need to develop a high degree of driving skill in order to make up for the lack of power.

p3
fallacies
1. if you have a high intelligence there is nothing that needs to be done about your thinking.
2. if you have a more humble intelligence there is nothing that can be done about your thinking.

p4 often a more humble car has a better driver.

I am more interested in designing thinking tools and training methods than in measuring natural ability.

the whole of mathematis is a matter of notations, concepts, and techniques.

p5 Many highly intelligent minds are trapped in poor ideas because they can defend them so well.

p5 Being constructive is much less rewarding. It may take years to show that a new idea works.
you have to depend on the listener liking your idea.

Unfortunately it does not automatically follow that practice improves a skill. 60 yo two finger typist.

p6 in a stable world it was enough to teach information

knowledge is not enough.
The creative, constructive design and operating aspects of thinking are just as important as "knowledge"

p9
It now seems very likely that perception works as a "self-organizing information system" (see _The Mechanism of mind_ 1976, _I am right you are wrong_ 1992). Such systems allow the sequence in which information arrives to set up patterns.


p10
following the thinking of an outstanding teach could work bu..

p13 PMI plus minus interesting
a very simple scanning tool had brought about this change.
p15 once an idea has been put down under one of the headings, it cannot be unthought and affects the thinker.


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