On Learning and Inspiration
Our species’ main advantage is our ability to teach and learn. We have been doing this for thousands of years. We do not just teach skills, but also culture and behavior. One generation conserves the collected and advanced information in objects that are able to store them. For example stones, books, CDs, Internet etc. Every person on this planet that is called well taught or academic is dependent on the knowledge that is stored in those objects. We wouldn’t have the knowledge we have in any area, if every scientist had to start at absolute zero in his field and learn everything by himself. Every scientist learns from the teachings of his fellow colleagues, dead or alive.
Imagine a mathematician, who first has to figure out a system to help him with the following problem: I have an apple and another apple. You have an apple and another apple. Is there a system to put all those apples together? Before we had numbers and addition, one could argue that people had no idea how to do that.
So if every mathematician has to solve all the math problems in the world all over again, all of them would be dead before they would be able to get to algebraic problems. Without the help of the previous generations, we would still live on trees.
This might be with the help of actual personal teaching or through books or similar tools. The process of effective learning is always connected to good teaching. Of course there have been some geniuses that went out into the nature and learned by observation or trial and error. This might be a valid method, but I would argue it is not an effective one.
The cornerstones of all innovation is looking at existing ideas and systems and connecting them in a new way. I know how it feels to not wanting to be dependent and being able to do everything on your own. Do not let your pride be in the way. Don’t wait for the lightning bolt to hit you and give you the long awaited insight. If you have a problem, look for people, who have already solved a similar one and let them teach you. You will be surprised how much people love to help other people, when you ask them friendly for their expertise.
Being able to effectively look for existing information is now more present than ever before. All the information you ever need in your life is in the internet or in books. All you have to know is what to look for. And what to ask. The person who does not use the internet cannot survive in our modern society. Effective Research is becoming one of the most important aspects in most industries. I would argue, acquiring information is the most valuable business there is. Just take Google. Google is nothing more than a tool that brings you to your information in the most effective way there currently is.
The world of design and art starts to shift from the idea of a few geniuses to the one of creative processes that include research and testing as one of their main tasks. Sites like Pinterest or Behance become invaluable to Designers to not loose track of the current state of Design and more easily start an effective ideation phase. Everything in the world of Design is inspired by other Designs. No good idea is created in a cave cut off from the world.
I think we should start accepting, as many great people already do, that we are nothing without the influence of other people. To be able to create a better future, we need to focus more on topics like shared industries, cocreation in design or open source projects.
The only way to get better, is to accept that we need other people to do that.
