If you give computers to young children, they start to believe that you don’t have to think, all you have to do is search’

Edward de Bono, Thought Guru
‘If you give computers to young children, they start to believe that you don’t have to think, all you have to do is search’
• Dr. de Bono has made people not only think about how they think, but also use new ways of looking at things to invent products, find solutions to persistent problems, and resolve conflict.
• Today people talk about big problems in our climate. What I'm talking about is a much bigger problem, which is the poor state of world thinking: that our thinking: We have essentially done nothing about thinking outside mathematics for 2,400 years, since the gang of three -- the Greek gang of three (Socrates, Aristotle, Plato) -- designed 'software' for thinking, which we've used ever since.
• Perception is by far the most important factor in thinking, 90 per cent of the errors are errors of perception, not of logic. And if your perception is wrong . . . your logic can be erroneous.
• The Prophet Muhammad had more to say about thinking than any other religious leader.
• 'One hour of thinking is better than 70 years of praying.' He says, 'The ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of a martyr.' He says, 'One learned man gives more trouble to the Devil than a thousand worshippers.'
• The people with the greatest power to change are 17-year-old girls. Because all the men up to the age of 28 are bound to try to impress them.
• Six Thinking Hats separate put the thinking precess:-
Under the white hat, everyone is looking for facts, information, what we have, what we need, what questions have we asked, how do we get the information. Red hat: permission to put forward your emotions, your intuition, without having to justify or explain it. Black hat is critical: what is wrong, the risks, the downside, why it may not work. The yellow hat: values, benefits. The green hat: creative, new ideas, possibilities, alternatives and so on. The blue hat is the organizing hat: summary, outcome.
• The point I make is: design rather than judgment. For example, in the Israel-Palestine situation. Here we have two of the most intelligent groups on the earth, and for 60 years, they've been fighting each other. Palestinians know that Israel is not going to disappear; Israelis know Palestine is not going to disappear. So we need to design a way forward. Just a suggestion: you let them vote in each other's elections; let them have half a vote each. So the Israelis will never elect Hamas, the Palestinians will never elect Sharon. They'll end up voting constructive leaders who will design a way forward. And that's design. Instead of saying, 'You're bad and if you don't stop doing this we're going to bomb you.'
Indian Express, Walk The Talk coloumn