Hunting The Muse

How To Get Smarter

Win Wenger - Proven Techniques to Boost Your Brain's Performance

"What would it be like," Einstein wondered, "to run beside a light beam at the speed of light?" Normal adults would squelch such a question or forget it. Einstein was different. He played with this question for 10 years. The more he pondered, the more questions arose. Suppose, he asked himself, that you were riding on the end of a light beam and held a mirror before your face. Would you see your reflection?

According to classical physics, you would not -- because light leaving your face would have to travel faster than light in order to reach the mirror. But Einstein could not accept this. It didn't feel right. It seemed ludicrous that you would look into a mirror and see nothing. Einstein imagined rules for a universe that would allow you to see your reflection in a mirror while riding a light beam. Only years later did he undertake proving his theory mathematically.

This is an article that explores how to make yourself smarter. I love that excerpt. Some of it is just about allowing yourself to wonder.

Beyond that it's a set of techniques like you'd find an a Creative Visualization book. I definitely know for myself that insight comes from imagining and attempting to reconcile things that first seem contradictory.

Posted by Curt at August 18, 2003 01:45 PM