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Jose Luis Soto Vázquez

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Do you think that we can enhance our capacity to innovate and generate new ideas?

Some people think that intelligence has a limit for each person: the most part of our intelligence is in our genes; other people think that there's a big component that shapes our ability to use our brain: environment strongly influences the evolution of our capacity to think and open our minds.

I want to say, can we improve our ability to innovate? Can we train our brain to be able to think better, and think new ideas? Or simply each person has a limit which may not exceed because is written in our genes? If you answer yes, how? Do you think that our current education enhances it?

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Topics: Transforming Education educate education education reform education revolution fundamentals of education
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  • Stephen Camm

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    Nov 19 2011: First our capacity to innovate is growing (has been growing) exponentially in recent times; a comparison of each decade going backwards to, say, the 1950's demonstrates this. It is the result of technology building on an ever increasing knowledge base. As an example....since I am older....at one time I could keep up with major developments in science with relatively modest effort. Today, with 2 hours devoted, I fall further behind and that is just skimming the surface. As for innovation that, curiously, will be forced on younger generations.....it is where the jobs are and the exposure is....and it's in every field. With respect to limits.....of course we have limits and that evolutionary path to improvement is a long road but with specialization (the ant colony as a brutal comparison and we are not ants) and limiting the scope of our interests (Very hard for me to do personally) emphatically yes we / you will generate new ideas. On education see my (negative opinion).......presume you could search on my name to find the response to Casper Laurent....he is a Danish student. I suspect you will find it more than interesting.
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    Juliette Zahn 50+

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    Nov 19 2011: Our potential for innovation and generating new ideas is unlimited. We have to work hard to de-clutter our minds, we have to connect to our intuition and apply our inner knowing. It is hard work. It is daily hard work, daily focused practice. It is in the balance of IQ & EQ.
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    Gerry Atricks

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    Nov 16 2011: Jose Facinating, I think we are more a product of our enviroment . yes while it is true we are born with a brain we do not activate it until we are stimulated by our enviroment around us through our senses.and even before our birth. We may have as individuals a certain level of intelligence which may be gene enduced. ie. IQ However I do not believe that someone is not as capable at learning a task or theory simlpy because of their IQ level. Evolution has proven that we indeed are capable of improving our brains not only as individuals but as a species over time. We also see in accident victims of brain repair and even switching from left to right hemispheres of the brain to continue to learn and relearn. As for the education systems way of handling this. I believe there needs to be more freedom to explore and experience. To create and to stimulate thought. Especially at the university level.
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    Christophe Cop 500+

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    TED AttendeeTEDx OrganizerAssociate
    Nov 16 2011: nope, intelligence increases with training.

    For example: the average IQ of students is higher during and after exam periods than after a long holiday... (up to 7 points!)

    the brain is much a muscle... and like athletes: everybody can improve the functioning of those muscles, but not everybody can win an Olympic medal.
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