Einstein on The Essential Feature of Productive Thought
Farnam Street stashed this in Interesting
Einstein’s response to the French mathematician, found in his Ideas and Opinions, shows the physicist’s mind at work and the value of “combinatory play.”
http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/04/einstein-productive-thought-combinatory-creativity/
Stashed in: Steve Jobs, Interconnectedness!, Creativity, Einstein, Creativity, Farnam Street
Farnam on why creativity is hard:
There is a view, to which I subscribe, that a lot of innovation and creativity comes from the combination of worldly wisdom, perspective, accumulating existing ideas, failures from multiple disciplines, amongst other things. These ideas — sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously tossed around in our head — combine into something new. This is part of the reason that creativity and innovation is hard. You can’t just pick up a single book or thread of knowledge and have it deliver results.
This beautiful Steve Jobs quote sums it up nicely.
“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.”
Read more:
http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/04/einstein-productive-thought-combinatory-creativity/
6:10 AM Apr 24 2014