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Claude Shannon: Tinkerer, Prankster, and Father of Information Theory – IEEE Spectrum

by basemaly
written by basemaly

This roomful of gadgets reveals the other Shannon, the one who rode through the halls of Bell Laboratories on a unicycle while simultaneously juggling four balls, invented a rocket-powered Frisbee, and designed a “mind-reading” machine.

This room typifies the Shannon who—seeking insights that could lead to a chess-playing machine—began playing so much chess at work that “at least one supervisor became somewhat worried,” according to a former colleague.

Shannon makes no apologies. “I’ve always pursued my interests without much regard for final value or value to the world,” he said cheerfully. “I’ve spent lots of time on totally useless things.”

Source: Claude Shannon: Tinkerer, Prankster, and Father of Information Theory – IEEE Spectrum

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Play is serious business for animals

by basemaly
written by basemaly

Every animal including humans rely on play as a way to learn how to fit in and thrive. As far as we know, only insects don’t engage in some form of play because their behaviors are all hard-wired rather than learned.

“Play provides an environment for experimenting with risk. When a lion cub deliberately gives up some control over its body, it puts itself at a disadvantage, allowing others to succeed in pouncing on it. Marc Bekoff of the University of Colorado Boulder and his colleagues have proposed that play increases the versatility of movements used to recover from a loss of balance and enhances the ability of the player to cope with unexpected stressful situations. The goal is not to win but to improve skills, sometimes by self-handicapping.”

Caitlin O’Connell, “Play Is Serious Business for Elephants.” Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/play-is-serious-business-for-elephants/
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OrganizationPlay

Playfulness in a time of crisis

by basemaly
written by basemaly

Words of wisdom from the Harvard Business Review article, “We Need Imagination Now More Than Ever:”

3. Allow yourself to be playful.

Crises require a goal-driven and serious response. However, in times of stress, we tend to overlook the important human capacity of play to temporarily forget about goals and improvise. Biologically, play can be characterized as de-risked, accelerated learning. For example, juvenile animals’ mock fighting is highly effective preparation for real combat.

In unprecedented, rapidly changing situations, play is a critical capability. As well as providing some much-needed stress relief — how many of us are currently working from dawn to dusk? — play can end up being, counterintuitively, very productive. We can make interesting, new connections between ideas when we allow ourselves to loosen up from our regular, goal-driven, laser-focused, instrumental approach.

“Creativity is the rearrangement of existing knowledge into new, useful combinations,” Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, chairman of the LEGO Brand Group, told us. “Just like playing with LEGO Bricks, this can lead you to valuable innovations — like the Google search engine or the Airbnb business model.”

Sometimes nothing immediately useful will come of play, but playing at least allows us to practice imagining, improvising, and being open to inspiration — all important skills when navigating the unknown.

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