Nikola Tesla was a genius many times over. And Robert Lomas gave him the ultimate tribute in his book The Man Who Invented The Twentieth Century. In the book review, Anonymous says[1]:
Everybody knows that Thomas Edison devised electric light and domestic electricity supplies, that Guglielmo Marconi thought up radio and George Westinghouse built the world's first hydro-electric power station. Everybody knows these 'facts' but they are wrong. The man who dreamt up these things also invented, inter-alia, the fluorescent light, seismology, a worldwide data communications network and a mechanical laxative. His name was Nikola Tesla, a Serbian-American scientist, and his is without doubt this century's greatest unsung scientific hero.
Now therefore, Mr Tesla had the unparalleled right to tell the world, as quoted by Reddit[2]:
The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion and uninterrupted solitude… Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind.
…Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born. That is why many of the earthly miracles have had their genesis in humble surroundings.
But not quite, Mr Tesla! This is another genius speaking. Your genius lies in inventing mechanics and machines; my genius lies in inventing new or improved ways of thinking and talking of words and ideas in the English language. In my blog Creative Thinkering, I have the 5-year claim as the “World’s creative genius online, most prolific writer of non-fiction[3].” As you may have noted, I invented that word thinkering, whose meaning is obvious but whose mechanics is not.
And that’s exactly the bone of contention today, Mr Tesla. When you say, “The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion and uninterrupted solitude,” you are correct, but you are referring only to the exact moment of birth of that idea or invention – when you must be left alone until you have gotten all down the details of your Eureka Moment. (Today, you can write digital notes as fast as you can think them out.)
Yes, you need that quiet moment for your insight to be born – but only after much prior thinking, if unnoticed.
Your advice, Mr Tesla, is “Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born.” Yes, great or original ideas are born when you are alone, but priorlyyour mind has been thinkering with a mix-match of facts, factors, facets, false leads – which if handled with free thought guarantees insight.
The sudden appearance of your insight is your genius, Mr Tesla, but was not necessarily engineered by your being alone. With group brainstorming and use of the Po method as espoused by Edward de Bono, there is no one “to cripple the creative mind.” With Po, even negative grounds are dug up until they yield whatever treasure they hide.
No Mr Tesla, creatives do not walk by their faith – they walk by their insight!@517
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Invented-Twentieth-Century/dp/148122980X
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/quotes/comments/egc32r/the_mind_is_sharper_and_keener_in_seclusion_and/
[3] https://creativethinkering.blogspot.com/
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