... we have to view hypertext as an ever-widening set of
creative opportunities.
For me, even after more than twenty years of being exposed to him, Edward
de Bono remains one of the most important thinkers in the realm of
teaching thinking in general, and creative thinking in particular. de Bono's
concept of PO, developed in his book Po:
Beyond Yes and No (1972), becomes particularly useful when when open
ourselves to the continually networking connections that the web offers
us.
From the introduction:
Our traditional YES/NO thinking system is immensely effective
in the second stage of thinking: that is in making the best use of fixed
ideas. Unfortunately the system is not much use in the first stage of thinking:
that is the perception stage which involves creating new ideas and new
ways of looking at things. Just as NO is the basic tool of logical thinking
so a new word PO is suggested as the basic tool for the first stage of
thinking. Logical YES/NO thinking is based on judgement but PO thinking
is based on movement. Both types of thinking are necessary. But
we must realize that logic is unlikely to solve those problems which need
a new idea for their solution. Today the world is rather full of such problems.
Do you get lost in cyberspace? Do you enjoy
the experience? Do you use it as a means by which you discover need roads,
new truck stops on the way, new destinations? PO does the same thing. As
de Bono writes:
The sequence of experience builds up ideas which are
then preserved by continuity. PO serves as a tool to introduce discontinuity.
We need such a tool in order to help us look for new ideas, not because
we have proved the old ideas wrong but because we are aware of the sequence
trap.
So along with the relatively new media of cyberspace and hypertext we need
a (not quite as new) thinking tool, such as PO to help us make the most
of them.
Go to: When Dessert Becomes the Main Course