Friction vs. Features

Posted by MadaboutDana
Mar 29, 2023 at 04:14 PM

Now this is a fascinating point: I find I can often come up with highly sophisticated ideas while talking (to myself or others), which are often then quite/really difficult to reformulate or sum up in writing.

This also applies to ideation in other languages: one way to stimulate new ideas or gain new perspectives on old ideas is to formulate them in another language (you and Paul must be intimately familiar with this), or even a couple of other languages. The way you approach ideation in e.g. German is fundamentally different, I would suggest, from the equivalent approach in English (indeed, the difference in the linguistic structuring of ideas is something I once considered writing a thesis about); of course you need near-mother-tongue fluency in multiple languages to be able to benefit to a significant degree from the varying cognitive frameworks involved. I regularly discuss tricky ideas in French or German (often with myself!) to benefit from the cognitive “hit” involved in reformulating them coherently in another language, although I don’t claim mother-tongue fluency in either language.

The same applies to writing in other languages, of course, although it’s perhaps too easy to become caught up in the nitty-gritty detail (which tends to happen to translators) and lose sight of the overarching conceptual differences. A couple of beers (or glasses of the wine/spirit of your choice) can help, of course… some scientists – including eminent ones – swear by other forms of recreational stimulus!

Cheers,
Bill

Franz Grieser wrote:
Paul Korm wrote:
>>Depends on how one “thinks”. I mull over in my head complicated or
>>confusing concepts or themes I am supposed to be writing about, often
>>for weeks or months, trying to get a feeling for their geometry and
>>texture, without words, sometimes with dreams, before writing. In
>>fact, putting down words can prematurely stop the process and make
>>continuing with thinking through a problem more difficult. Writing
>>itself is friction and can force the brain to halt and abandon
>>serendipity and the other pleasures of thinking.
> >Interesting thought.
> >A famous German writer, Heinrich Kleist (18th century), wrote an essay
>called “Über die allmähliche Verfertigung der Gedanken beim
>Reden“ (= “on the gradual fabrication of thoughts while talking”).
>For me, in fact, it’s the fabrication of thoughts while _writing_. I
>guess that is how many of us here “think” and consolidate thoughts.
> >However, Paul’s statement “putting down words can prematurely stop the
>process and make continuing with thinking through a problem more
>difficult” gets me thinking (sorry for the pun). Maybe, my habit of
>writing down thoughts as a means of getting them clearer, keeps me from
>coming up with ideas that go beyond my current horizon.
> >Thanks for the food for thought.
>