Prepared Minds

A repository for musings and/or inspirations related to the science of creativity and innovation.

[preparedminds-blog]

Sobering and balanced write-up on the recent crisis surrounding priming in social psychology, with causes for alarm and signs of hope.

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via @FastCoDesign

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via @FastCoExist

[idonethis-blog]

’Tis easy to frame a good bold resolution; But hard is the Task that concerns execution.

Take some comfort in the fact that Ben Franklin, the genius who did everything, still found the doing part a little tough!

(via idonethis)

[preparedminds-blog]

Greenway: Halve driving commute time and CO2 pollution from idling with this centralized traffic-optimized navigation system!

There are some potential "big-brother" concerns with implementation, as well as person-level resistance to taking different routes all the time (and I'm not sure if it will require critical mass of adopters to work at all), but it's a very interesting idea, and an impressive prototype implementation!

[preparedminds-blog]

Great ideas tend to find you. That's one of the frustrating things about them. It really is almost accidental when they happen and some people are good at it, some people are open to it, and I think that's sort of the key, to be ready, to have interesting things pop into your head and be willing to try to do something with them. My other key thing is to write ideas down when you have them, because it's really easy to think, that's a great idea, I definitely won't forget that, but then you do. I can't tell you how many times I've woken up in the middle of the night with an idea for a talk or for something I want to write and if I don't get up and actually write it down then it's going to disappear and I lose it forever.

Peter Rojas, Co-Founder Of Engadget, Gizmodo And Gdgt, in this video.

[preparedminds-blog]

"I invented nothing new. I simply assembled the discoveries of other men behind whom were centuries of work. Had I worked fifty or ten or even five years before, I would have failed. So it is with every new thing. Progress happens when all the factors that make for it are ready and then it is inevitable. To teach that a comparatively few men are responsible for the greatest forward steps of mankind is the worst sort of nonsense."

Henry Ford

[idonethis-blog]

Nobody does their best thinking sitting at their desk. Your desk is for executing; do your thinking elsewhere.

July 26, 2012

Justin Jackson reminds us that desks are workstations. Take your thinking, procrastinating, eating, and even sitting elsewhere.

...

[preparedminds-blog]

Check out my answer to this on Quora!

[preparedminds-blog]

Very interesting take on the importance of being able to switch thinking "modes" between broad associative search and focused tuning for doing creative work.

via @FastCompany

[preparedminds-blog]

Heart-warming inspiring story of a boy from Sierra Leone who made batteries using materials from a dumpster to power his own FM station, and how a visionary MIT Media Lab student is trying to support him and others like him to innovate and chart the way forward for developing nations.

[preparedminds-blog]

via @hardsci

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from @PsychScientists via @edyong209 (Not Exactly Rocket Science)

[preparedminds-blog]

Perfect is the enemy of good (so do something good and perfect it later)

Simply Statistics

[itsokaytobesmart]

Weaving Neuroscience and Art Together

What’s that? Wooden brains aren’t enough for you? Ok, since you can’t get enough, here’s some amazing knitted brain art. These are real fMRI scans and anatomical studies translated into yarn and woven into rugs!

There’s actually a whole mini-museum for this stuff, appropriately titled “The Museum of Scientifically Accurate Brain Art”. Best “weaving” of science and art since these math-inspired creations of New Mexico artist Donna Loraine Contractor.

Even more: Here’s some yarn playing tricks on your brain, via “Illusion Knitting”.

[preparedminds-blog]

beautiful!

[preparedminds-blog]

Alleviating burn pains by playing in a virtual winter wonderland, mental musical practice, and building muscle by imagination. Take some of these super interesting findings with a grain of salt. :)

[idonethis-blog]

As the Romans are supposed to have said: solvitas perambulum - ‘solve it while you walk.’

Harry Brennan, who found that a good walk turned on his mind’s light bulb when it came to his game development project:

You never know what you can come up with - and it may even help you avoid some deep technical problems altogether and save large amounts of time, simply by allowing you to take a different design decision.

When people don’t take enough breaks, their creativity and productivity decline. Humans are not designed to be sedentary. We come with our own mobile application. They’re called legs. Use them to jumpstart your brain!

(via idonethis)