The Uphill Battle of Creativity

Creative problem solving is needed now more than ever because the world is facing challenges bigger and more daunting that ever before: big, nasty, complicated problems like climate change, ecological collapse, social fragility from globalization, the disruptive effects of technology, and so on. But if you ask someone what we – humanity – should do about these challenges, more often than not, you’ll get some vaguely-optimistic variant of this: “Someone will think of something.”

In a way, it’s a valid response. After all, we have overcome some major hurdles in the past. We’re still here.

But if “someone will think of something” is our strategy, it seems only prudent that we should support the someones and encourage the thinking of creative somethings. Unfortunately, we do neither – and it starts in the schools.

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Book Review: Against Empathy by Paul Bloom

AgainstEmpathyCover

“Empathy” has become a cultural buzzword. After all, people don’t have enough of it, and the world would be a better place if everyone could just develop a stronger sense of empathy with those around them. At least, that’s what people are saying:

The biggest deficit that we have in our society and in the world right now is an empathy deficit. –Barack Obama

The scariest aspect of bullying is the total lack of empathy. –Emily Bazelton

Behind every progressive policy lies a single moral value: empathy… –George Lakoff

For many, “more empathy” is the answer to a wide range of societal issues. But is it? Paul Bloom, psychology professor at Yale University, sets up his book – Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion – provocatively enough:

I am against empathy, and one of the goals of this book is to persuade you to be against empathy too.

Let’s see what he has to say…

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What writers can learn from comedians

Recently, I’ve been reading a lot of books on 1) the craft of writing and 2) comedy. [If you’re curious about what I’ve been reading, you can see a list of books and reviews here.] It seems to me that non-humor writers could benefit greatly from a careful study of how successful comedians operate. In this post, I’ll highlight three -perhaps unexpected- areas where comedians shine.

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