Einstein said, imagination is more important

[AmericanActivist]

than intellect” so if you could use your imagination in a way that brainstorms positive solutions to the current horrible threatening situation we have been thrust into, what would it look like?

Like imagination used for good. Like visualization. Creativity.

I really haven’t thought this through. I just had this idea. I am not a positive person, definitely not an optimist although I admire their creed which I read years ago. I tend not to have faith in humans. Even so, I wonder if I could focus long enough - I find this extremely difficult lately - to use my imagination in this way.

What do you think? Any takers? Any positive people? Any dreamers in the John Lennon sense of the word?

[Freelancer]

1. We need some thread that unites. I suggest germophobia -- for real

A lot of really wealthy people are germophobes. A lot of regular people are sick of being sick so much. Let's start a world health event that would help the people, and engage the rich in maybe seeing the world a little differently at the same time.

Premise: most communicable diseases have to jump to new hosts fairly quickly, or they fail to spread and die. If a sizeable chunk of the world just wore a surgical mask for a couple of days, even at home, diseases like colds and the flu, as well as some truly nasty bugs, would take a tremendous hit. If we could get people to wear a mask for three days, the world would truly be changed. All it would take is funding for a couple of billion disposable masks, distribution and a global campaign. There would be no need for injections, nothing that violates religious tenets -- just agreement to look silly for a little while for all of our sakes. There's something in this for everyone to do -- just enough, in fact -- for billionaires, rock stars, celebs, politicians, truck drivers, teachers, and just regular people all over. If it works, people will wonder what else we could do together, and that would be even more world-changing.

[DetlefK]

2. That is a simplification of a complicated issue, but essentially correct.

Up to the Middle-Ages, scholarly thought was based strictly on logic and memorizing facts (e.g. what's in the Bible and what famous authours had written). The definition of a smart person was someone who had memorized lots of facts.

If you thought up something brand-new, you had to be very careful lest you end up on the stake. (e.g. there was good astrology and bad astrology and the difference was based on convoluted theological reasoning about soul and mind).

The Renaissance was a mental and cultural revolution. It ended with the colossal insight that books can be wrong. And with this the Age of Enlightenment (and actual science) began.



If you read the full quote, you will see that Einstein's point was rather simple:
For solving scientific problems it is more important to keep an open mind than to simply memorize stuff.