Those Crazy Ideas

1
Those Crazy Ideas

• Isaac Asimov
• Unit 1 Book 2

2
Crazy ?

• Define the word of crazy
• A crazy idealist
• A crazy cat
• He talks crazy.

3
About the Author

• Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), born in Petrovichi,
  Russia. Quintessential author, wrote over 500
  books that enlightened, entertained, and spanned
  the realm of human knowledge. Isaacs 1992 death
  from heart and kidney failure was a consequence
  of AIDS contracted from a transfusion of tainted
  blood during his Dec. 1983 operation.

4
Birthplace

• The stone in the picture commemorates the site
  where Isaac Asimov was born in Petrovichi, Russia
  in 1920. A copper memorial plaque that used to be
  mounted on the stone is now kept in the village
  administration office to protect it from theft.

5
Par 1-6

• Par 1-2
• How does he answer the question
• -Where do you get your crazy ideas? (n1)
• What does the change of his way to answer this
  question imply? (sn1)
  
• Par. 3-6
• Why did a consultant firm come to him?
• What are those crazy ideas?

6
Space age project artificial island

• Not Utopia but an Earthship
• Protect environment
• Built from natural and recycled materials
• Powered by renewable energy
• Offering you a chance to touch the earth lightly

7
P.6-16

• What did they really want to know?
• Did he tell them about where the crazy idea
  came?
  
• speculation is my profession,
• Par 7
• How did he start his discussion?
• Par 8-16
• Mention the names of the scientists in this part
  and think about their findings.

8
Charles Darwin (1809-82) Br. Naturalist
9
Charles Darwin (1809-82) Br. Naturalist

• His zoological and geological discoveries on the
  voyage result in numerous important publications
  and formed the basis of his theory of evolution.
  
• Other works
• Variation in Animals and Plants under
  Domestication/1868
  
• The Descent of Man.../1871

10
Theory of evolution
11
Theory of evolution

• Biological theory, animals and plants have their
  origin in other types and the distinguishable
  differences are due to modifications in
  successive generations.
• 1859, Darwin and Wallace published a paper on
  evolution
  
• The heart of Ds evolution
• The mechanism of natural selection.
• Surviving individuals, who vary in some way that
  enable them to live longer and reproduce, pass on
  their advantage to successive generations.

12
Darwins H.M.S. Beagle voyage

• Darwin was recommended as naturalist on HMS
  Beagle, which was bound on a long scientific
  survey expedition to S. America and the South
  Seas (1931-36)
• Beagle is a dogs name.

13
Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913)

• Br. Naturalist, one of the forgotten fathers of
  modern sciences.
  
• Though trained as an architect, became interested
  in botany and traveled to the Amazon in 1848 to
  collect specimens.

14
Alfred Russel Wallace

• His observations of the islands led to his
  developing a theory of origin of species through
  natural selection independently of , and
  simultaneously with C. Darwin.
• Unlike Darwin, he insisted that the higher mental
  capacities of humans could not have arisen by
  natural selection but that some non-biological
  agency must have been responsible.
• His works Contributions to the Theory of Natural
  Selection/1870, Geographical Distribution of
  Animals/1876-1889

15
Thomas Malthus
16
P.18-22

• Titles of Darwins works.
• Par 18
• Why did Darwin work on his research and theory
  for 14 years?
  
• beat him to the punch.
• Par 19-22
• How did Wallace work on his theory evolution?

17
P.22-25

• Compare these two scientists and make comments on
  them.
  
• Par 23-24
• he had been forestalled with a vengeance.
• Why was Darwin a man of the highest integrity?
• Par 25
• What is the point/speculation raised by Isaac in
  this paragraph?
  

18
P.26-32

• Par 26-29
• Make a summary on how to create crazy ideas.
• bits
• Par 30-32
• Illustrate the ways to accumulate bits.
• Why is self-educated genius becoming rarer?

19
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)

• Born in Poland, educated in the Univ. of Krakow,
  famous for its math, philosophy, astronomy
  curriculum.
  
• In 1514, wrote and discreetly circulated his
  Commentariolus, the first outline of those
  arguments eventually substantiated in On the
  Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres/1543
• The enunciation of the heliocentric theory by
  Copernicus marked the beginning of the scientific
  revolution and of a new view of a greatly
  enlarged universe.

20
Michael Faraday (1791-1867)
21
Michael Faraday

• English chemist, physicist pioneering experiments
  in electricity and magnetism.
  
• The greatest experimentalist who ever lived.
• Lines of magnetic force have become common
  ideas in modern physics.

22
P.34-42

• Par 34-35
• What is the first criterion?
• Par 36-39
• Why is the accumulation of bits is not enough?
• What can we do with the bits?
• Par 40-42
• How do some people create new ideas?
• Do you think being educated and yet not
  intelligent is acceptable?
  
• What did Darwin do for creating new ideas?

23
P.43-46

• Par 43-46
• What is the second criterion of creativity?
• Are all combinations important?
• How do we handle the bits?
• Part 47-49
• What kind of skill do we need for mathematics?
• Is intuition important?
• Why were there first-rank breakthrough in math
  and math physics?

24
Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

• English physicist and mathematician, educated at
  Cambridge Univ. (1661-65)
  
• Built the first reflecting telescope in 1668.
• Newtons law of gravitation/early 17th cent.
• Newtons laws of motion/1687.(relations between
  the forces acting on a body and the motion of the
  body)
  
• President of the Royal Society of London 1n 1703.

25
Evariste Galois (1811-1832)

• French Mathematician developed new techniques to
  study the solubility of equations called group
  theory.
  
• In France, about 1830, a new star of unimaginable
  brightness appeared in the heavens of pure
  mathematics...Felix Klein
  
• A tragic life, father committed suicide Galois
  regularly failed his exams in school.
  
• His physics teacher wrote about the young genius,
  He knows absolutely nothing. Ive been told that
  this student has math. Ability this certainly
  astonishes me. Judging by his examination, he
  seems of little intelligence, or has hidden his
  intelligence so well that I found it impossible
  to detect it.

26
P.50-56

• Par 50-52
• What is the third criterion for creativity?
• Par 53-54
• Under what condition can a combination be made
  quickly?
  
• How is a scientific breakthrough of the first
  rank made?
  
• Par 55-56
• How was the breakthrough made by Darwin and
  Wallace?

27
Brain busting/ST breakthrough
28
P.57-63

• Par 57
• Why would creativity be hampered?
• Par 58-60
• Is it easy to accumulate enough bits today? Why?
• Why is brain-busting popular?
• Par 61-63
• Under what circumstances could brain-busting
  work?
  
• What is the reasonable size for a group? Why?

29
P.64-65

• Par 64-65
• Which is more likely to happen?
• A. None of the group will be intelligent.
• B. None of the group will be intuitive.
• C. None of the group will be educated.
• How can brain-busting be created?

30
P.66-70

• Read Par 66-69 and answer the questions asked by
  the author.
  
• What is the point of the story about the two
  scientists?
  
• Par 70
• What kind of characters should crackpot possess?

31
P.71-76

• Par 71-76
• What is the fourth criterion?
• crack-pottery
• What does the word crazy ideas mean?
• Can every crackpot become a genius?
• Can every person with all four of the criteria be
  able to make the combinations of bits?
  

32
P.77-90

• Par 77-79
• What is the fifth criterion?
• Remember all the five criteria.
• Par 80-85
• What can we do to increase the incidence of the
  various criteria?
  
• Par 86-90
• Do we need great effort for receiving the
  criteria?
  
• Explain the last paragraph (par 91)?
• Has the author fully answered the question about
  the crazy idea?

33
Questions

• Are crazy ideas really crazy?
• How are bits usually collected?
• What does Asimov mean by intuition?
• To be creative, one should be_____.
• Make a comment on the statement in the last
  paragraph Here, it seems to me, is where we
  need experimentation and perhaps a kind of
  creative breakthrough about creativity.

34
Answer to the last question

• The writer believes there is a close connection
  between crativity and crazy ideas. If sb. wants
  to look for creativity of his own he can make
  some usual research on it, but the most vital
  task he needs is to remove himself from normal
  thinking to the unusual approach of seeing the
  world which might be considered crazy.
• Once you become crazy you are creative and you
  may answer the question where you get those crazy
  ideas.