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Big IdeasBig ideas start with big questions. What is the basis of morality? How can we motivate ourselves to do what we really need to do? Is there a better way to organize a city or a country? Is understanding a problem always the best way to solve it, or is it sometimes better to forget about the causes and get on with the solutions more directly?
If you want to have big ideas, then, whether for a book, an essay, a discussion, or just for your own intellectual entertainment, start with powerful questions. Ask how things could be different, and assume that you will have some sort of answers. Ask questions that seem silly even, as long as they are "big" questions like, "What if there were no wars?" or "What if cities were built without streets?" "What if" questions are some of the best, by the way.
Big Ideas From Challenging Premises
There are many specific idea-creation and problem-solving techniques that can yield new and big ideas. One of the simplest and most profound is to challenge the premises of existing ideas. Let's look at an example.
Licensing of doctors by governments is an almost universally accepted idea. Such licensing only requires a minimum standard that is primarily measured in terms of education and training, not performance, but this still leads the public to be complacent, to the point where people spend twice as much time researching which stereo to buy than they do researching which doctors to go to. The premise patients have is that doctors are licensed and so are...
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http://www.999ideas.com/big-ideas.htmlStupid LawsWe laugh when we hear about the usual stupid laws. It is illegal, for example, to catch fish with your bare hands in Kansas. Wyoming has a law forbidding you from wearing a hat that obstructs a person's view in a theater or event. You need a permit to be a fortune teller in South Carolina, and in Kansas City, Missouri, children can't legally buy toy cap guns. However, they can buy real shot guns at the gun store.
Then there are the stupid laws that are not considered stupid by most people. That is what this article is about. In particular, those laws and regulations that are supposedly for public safety, but are really intended to benefit some particular interest group or businesses. It seems like a good idea to have laws that make people safer. But such laws are often just an excuse for creating more control or profits for some industry, or for bureaucrats who like to exercise power for its own sake.
To understand what I mean, lets start with my eye infection. A minor problem, it could be easily cured with antibiotic eye drops in a few days. I've used them before with no side effects. In fact, I would go buy some right now - if I was allowed to. But stupid laws prevent buying such eye drops without a prescription from a "medical professional."
Oh, but those laws keep us safe, some of you will claim. Is that right? Perhaps it sounds reasonable, but let's look at the matter. I have an eye infection that could be easily cured with $5 eye drops. However, laws have made it so I have to make a doctor's appointment and...
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http://www.999ideas.com/stupid-laws.html Tags: knowledge
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