Dilbert is one of the most brilliant cartoons of the modern age. It isn’t deep like Calvin and Hobbes, it’s witty and original, offering color to the every day monotony of office life.
It’s creator is Scott Adams, and back in January when we were all talking about taxes on the richest people, he wrote an essay in the WSJ about using bad ideas to generate good ones. The premise is simple and effective. If you can’t think of a good idea, think of a terrible one and work your way up from there. This is actually used in the entertainment industry when writers can’t think of good jokes or stories.
Adams wants to apply this idea to solving real problems. Most of his examples are things like letting the people who pay the most taxes get use of the carpool lane even when driving alone. Give them some kind of perk for paying more taxes. Call it a value exchange. He runs through some pretty bad ideas to help us all find our way to the good ones.
I’m going to try to use this in my every day life, and I think our government should give this a shot too. Read the article and then give me some terrible ideas for some problems we’re facing. It could be government, the economy, your life, or even certain scandals going on in the British media. Then we can work our way up to some good ideas and solve some real problems.
WSJ via Big Picture
 By The Weakonomist |
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