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Outside the box

created by m_turner

(place) by m_turner (1.7 y) (print)   ?   (I like it!) 1 C! Sat Sep 16 2000 at 5:00:30

The mythical land outside the box is occupied by people who think different. At the center of this land exists a set of nine pillars.
o   o   o

o   o   o

o   o   o
To apply for citizenship here, one must touch all nine pillars only turning 3 times while walking. Many scoff at this task and go back inside the box to continue their lives in mediocrity. Those that manage to do this task are promoted to the upper ranks of their respective organizations and can dazzle people at team building events with their super powers.

The privileges of those citizens of outside the box land are quite clear:

The secret of the pillars is thus:

o - o - o-+
| \       /       
o   o   o
|     X
o   o   o
| /      \
+
Following these mythical footsteps, one gains access to the world outside of the box. People are still wondering what the necessary steps to take that will allow them to get outside the cubicle though. None have ventured past the cylinder that contains the box that one is supposed to think outside of.

(idea) by ionicbond (5.8 y) (print)   ?   (I like it!) Fri Jun 01 2001 at 2:51:13

This exercise is actually used frequently in peace studies and conflict resolution workshops. It gets people to stop treading around the same old path they've been steering toward in terms of a solution and gets them to think about alternative answers for resolving conflict and approaching second track diplomacy in a new way.

(idea) by Shanoyu (2.1 y) (print)   ?   (I like it!) Sat Feb 23 2002 at 18:42:44

Also, should a math scholar ever tell you that the better solution is three straight lines, hit him in the face. Never the less, the argument is that a line can be reduced to an infinitely small width in porportion to the dots and thus three lines (all diagonal to the straight lines the dots would create) can touch all nine dots. Point is; Math is rather silly unless you restrict the range of answers to the task to that which is immediately possible and therefore useful. I suppose I could create a gigantic nine dot puzzle using dots the size of bacteria and ask you to create 3 ridiculiously small lines. But what is really the point of that? By the same token, I could just take a gigantic paintbrush the width of the three points put together and using ONE line, connect them all! In sum, when thinking 'outside the box', don't think outside of reality if you plan on doing anything useful. Though obvious, one may find in his or her travels that the majority of people who think 'outside of the box' have defined that box as reality, and are therefore useless.

printable version
chaos

Thinking outside the box out of the box experience We're shifting the paradigm hard interview questions
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