jackietingyu5,

Then, IMHO, you are still thinking inside your "box".

The "BOX" is the sum of all your knowledge and experience.

To THINK outside of the BOX is to see and know THINGS that you DO NOT KNOW. To see what is invisible to you...

So, do you know what you DO NOT KNOW aka your BOX?? If you don't, you DO NOT KNOW whether you are thinking inside or outside the box to begin with.

So, what you DO NOT KNOW about this subject??

Dreamer

P.S.: A medical story that I read somewhere. A person that never like spicy food had a liver transplant from a person that like spicy food. After the liver transplant, he start liking spicy food. Coincidence?? Does LIVER has a brain / memory / intelligence that carry with it?? I do not know.

As far as I can tell, I DO NOT KNOW anything about this subject. I do not know how brain, mind, and etc works.. And, that is the EXTEND of my knowledge of this subject. I know that I DO NOT KNOW.

jackietingyu5,

The SHORT ANSWER is I do not know whether you think OUTSIDE your box. How big is YOUR BOX??

For example, there are MANY WAYS to THINK?? And, you may only use one way. Until you are using a different way to think, you are still in the BOX.

If you are [B]REALLY INTERESTED in this subject area, read everything written by Roger Schank. He had spent 30+ years studying learning, thinking, and intelligence.. In the process, he founded the institute of learning science..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Schank

http://www.rogerschank.com/

For what I read so far from Roger Schank, the BEST telling sign of whether you are THINKING outside of BOX is whether you are willing to LOOK STUPID.

For example, so far, nobody has asked VERY STUPID QUESTIONS.

What if THINKING has nothing to do with MIND and BRAIN at all??

What is THINKING??

Dreamer

3dassets,

Being an engineer, to KNOW something is to be able to engineer and create it.

Roger Schank had worked on this for 30+ years. I read about THINKING and LEARNING for 10 to 20 years. To the best of my knowledge, I have NO IDEA what THINKING is. Every time that someone come out an idea what THINKING is, scientists and engineers have been able to find something else that is outside of that boundary. This applies to INTELLIGENCE too. We had many many forms of THINKINGS and INTELLIGENCES. And, we are discovering more everyday...

<< Think outside the box simply means try to think from other people's point of view rather than personal preference, it only tell us to stop being ourselves maybe act stupid can loosen up stubborn brain. >>

Actually, I am more inline with your first assertion. It is QUITE IMPOSSIBLE to think outside of box by looking at other people's point of view.

Let's take this topic as an example.

This topic is based on the assumption of

A) We know what THINKING is.

B) We know that Brain / Mind is the one that is doing the THINKING.

(A) and (B) is the BOX. Until a person ATTACK and ABANDON (A) and (B), the person is in the BOX. Looking from other people's POV that still believe (A) and (B) does not help a person to step out of the box. A person has to step out of the BOX first aka accept the possibility that (A) and (B) could be wrong...

In order to step out of the BOX, a person needs to know what the BOX is. In this topic, it is (A) and (B). Perhaps a lot more...

Dreamer

3dassets,

<< We have to accept the best possible answer at the time until there are other explanation, before we know more, we live with knowing little and as you said, willing to look stupid to know how it feels that may invoke creative thinking.>>

1) I am engineer. I am pushing the boundary. Accept the best possible answer may not good be enough...

2) I am a tier 4 support engineer. I have to solve problems that we know little about. In many cases, it is not knowable. Being creative problem solver and thinker is part of the job.

<<Human is unique because of intelligence, >>

3) I do not subscribe to that idea. Human are just a form of animal like any other animal. Something are better and something are worst. There is nothing unique or special about human being. We are just more capable than any other animals to make ourselves miserable...

Dreamer

This post has been edited by dreamer101: Apr 18 2011, 08:27 AM