Analogical Thinking

Note:

We all learn about analogies in school: A is to B as B is to C. When we're trying to explain something hard we often fall back on this simple form of analogy to help.

But analogical thinking is not just a riddle to simplify our meaning, it is a deeply valuable method of thinking that prompts problem solving and innovation in unmatched ways. It is an essential tool for solving Wicked Problems, which are the pervasive in our world today.

Analogies help solve problems by facilitating understanding and sparking ideas for solutions:

I love coffee, and have made a hobby of overengineering my morning pour over. This interest led me to spend a considerable amount of time thinking about the impact a bimodal distribution of grain sizes on extraction when using conical burr grinders. I never imagined that one day it would help me in a conversation with a Direct Air Capture expert when discussing how best to pack sorbent beds to maximize carbon sequestration. That analogy not enlightened my understanding of the problem, but opened up all the parallel solutions that have been used to solve, and not solve, the problem of fines in coffee grounds.

↳ From the source
“Deep analogical thinking is the practice of recognizing conceptual similarities in multiple domains or scenarios that may seem to have little in common on the surface. It is a powerful tool for solving wicked problems.”
Range Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World - David EpsteinPage 102

In the book Range, David Epstein highlights Johannes Kepler as one of the greatest analogical thinkers in history. Kepler reimagined 2,000 years of assumptions about the nature of our universe by drawing analogies to other fields.

↳ From the source
“Each time he got stuck, Kepler unleashed a fusillade of analogies. Not just light, heat, odor, currents and boatmen, but optics of lenses, balance scales, a broom, magnets, a magnetic broom, orators gazing at a crowd, and more. He interrogated each one ruthlessly, every time alighting on new questions.”
Range Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World - David EpsteinPage 100
Reference Notes
  1. Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized WorldDavid Epstein
    pp. 100, 102
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