Dear Keith and David,
Thank you for both comments.
' Tesla claimed that he could design machines in his head, put them on test
for some
time, and then take them apart and inspect them for wear.'
' ... Porsche saw his four speed synchromesh gear box working
in his head, but he certainly operated it in his drawings'
Most mechanical and electronic engineering designers I know would consider
these to be normal skills required of engineering designers.
A parallel skill is to know the behaviour of designs from the representation
of the dynamic behaviours of a design as represented in mathematical
equations.
Keith draws attention to an additional parallel skill also taken for granted
in engineering design ' simply perceive the possible logical connections
between things in an instant. '
Often the latter can help identify the sweet spots of optimal design in
design solutions space.
All of the above can enhance the creative skills of childhood.
Best wishes,
Terry
-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related
research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Keith
Russell
Sent: Wednesday, 8 June 2011 6:28 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Upside, down, freedom (Re: lego limits and freedoms)
Dear David,
Thank you for research information. Perhaps we should spend more time
working out how others work so that we then can understand better how we
work. It would probably help students at some point in their learning to
know the varieties of perceptual skills in their cohort and the
varieties of skills historically in the field.
I'm not sure if Porsche saw his four speed synchromesh gear box working
in his head, but he certainly operated it in his drawings. The story
goes that he was drawing all night and when the workers arrived in the
morning he said: "Build this, I'm going home for a sleep." They replied:
"But Herr Porsche, what if it doesn't work, should we wake you?" Of
course we all know how it turns out - the gear box worked perfectly as
it was drawn.
Not knowing how people do things we can become awed, which is not a
good thing. For example, language people, with high level abstraction
skills, can sometimes appear very intelligent and very full of knowledge
when what they do is simply perceive the possible logical connections
between things in an instant. What they do with these ideas after having
these ideas is what is interesting.
I envy you your penguins at night though I'm not quite sure I want to
see them while I am driving.
Some pilots report seeing people sitting on the end of their wings
which is a bit of a concern. Many of them also have the experience that
no-one is flying the plane (which is mostly the fact these days) and
anyway, car drivers often have this sensation as well, that non-one is
driving the car.
I will try doing more than pick my nose with my left hand.
cheers
keith
>>> David Durling <[log in to unmask]> 06/07/11 5:07 PM >>>
Hi Keith,
I'm another right handed dunce who works in a community of
left-handers, dyslexics, 3D rotationalists, and ideators. As well as
people who clearly 'see' things in design of which I am only dimly
aware.
When my mind wanders in boring committees I like to observe how many
left-handers we have in the room, and sometimes up to a fifth are
left-handers. Student populations in the schools of art and design in UK
can be up to 30 per cent dyslexic, and we have observed left-handedness
at about twice national level, that is about 16 per cent relative to a
normal (western) population of about 8 per cent left-handedness. And yes
you do see them reading and drawing upside down for the benefit of
others. I once saw a tutor draw an image of a grand piano upside for
students on the other side of the table.
One longitudinal study of architects demonstrated that student cohorts
became more left-handed over time, as the right-handers dropped out.
Tests showed the left-handers as having the greatest spatial reasoning,
presumably a desirable skill for architectural success.
When I was a practicing designer, I often preferred a quiet dark room
and a cup of tea to a drawing board and conventional sketching, simply
because the designs were better in my head. But the kind of highly
detailed 3D abilities of say a Tesla were well beyond me. Tesla claimed
that he could design machines in his head, put them on test for some
time, and then take them apart and inspect them for wear. Perhaps
someone here will know if he was left-handed too.
Curiously, when very tired I sometimes experience lifelike images in
such extraordinary detail that I can almost touch and feel them, though
I cannot control them. The only practical use that I have for this trait
is that when driving a long journey on a dark night, I am often
entertained (and prevented from falling asleep) by animals such as
penguins, and occasionally nuns, wandering by the side of the road.
David
.........................................................................
David Durling FDRS PhD http://durling.tel
.........................................................................
On 6 Jun 2011, at 11:59 pm, Keith Russell wrote:
> Dear Jean,
>
> great experiment - turning things upside-down often helps me see key
> features and their relationships.
>
> Your experiment also makes me ponder how many "unusual" members we
have
> on this list.
>
> What do I mean?
>
> My wife, who is left handed, is also ambidextrous (that of course
> should read ambisinisterous - or whatever double left-handed is in
> Latin). This is common enough but, along with a special collective
of
> left-handed souls, she can read upside-down and write upside-down
with
> both hands (at the same time if she tries hard enough). This freaks
> people out when she marks her students' work upside-down. She also
has
> stronger maths skills than language skills.
>
> I know from web searchers that there are other groups of left-handed
> weirdness.
>
> And also, we have the 3d rotation people (rotate objects in 3
> dimensions in their heads).
>
> cheers from a right handed dunce who is lucky to see more than 2
> dimension on a clear day.
>
> keith
>
>>>> Jean Schneider <[log in to unmask]> 06/06/11 6:14 PM >>>
> Your anecdote reminds me of a test that I did on both of my kids,
> when they were between 2-3. I could read them a story book with the
> images upside down, it didn't puzzle them at all and they perfectly
> recognised the various characters in the illustration. And this would
>
> stand even against the rotation : say that you start with page 2 and
> 3 upside down, than 4-5 correct, than turn again... always worked !
> It is only later that they were telling me : you are holding the book
>
> in the wrong direction (you're stupid, dad !).
>
> Says a lot about the various traits of perception, and I always
> wondered, if they weren't told by the others (telling them that they
> were holding the book the wrong way), whether they could develop an
> ability to identify features (and see them in relation, I am not
> limiting this to recognition) that would be far more skilful than
> what they are able to do today.
>
> While playing, it was taking me to so many directions : cognition,
> cultural abilities, abstraction in art etc.
>
> Jean
>
>
> Le 6 juin 11 à 05:44, Keith Russell a écrit :
>
> For example, he changed his mind about the base frequently -
> this lead to a few crashes and it led to him working upside-down.
His
> upside-down work reminded me of accounts of the process of Gaudi on
> turning models for the Sagrada Família upside-down to see how
gravity
> worked. My grandson wasn't looking for gravity but he also wasn't
> trapped into the presumed logic of the blocks.
>
> Soon he will forget this freedom.
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