In this contribution I'd like to comment on the upper part of the graph that illustrates the session, which is about achieving an atmosphere of freedom. In the graph this is illustrated by freedom to participate and propose ideas, and it is inferred that creativity is thinking about the unexpected. For this, it is implied that judgement and criticism of other's ideas should be disencouraged in order to nuture creativity.
-First of all, I believe criticism, when understood from a positive and constructive point of view, is the most useful tool we have to achieve something together. This is because everyone has biases. Due to our upbringing, studies and field of expertise, we may know a lot about a particular topic but ignore other, equally relevant topics. This leads to ideas that may be partially flawed. Constructive criticism allows to point out the flaws or limitations in someone's idea that this person can not see because of their own, completely natural biases. That's to me one of the strongest points of brainstorming, having feedback from other on your own ideas, finding the flaws and trying to find a way to iron them out together. Additionally, this leads everyone to learn more about the particular topic, which is always a positive.
-Second, some ideas are just not good enough. It may be because they are lazily developed, because they are not feasible or because they are just not good. And that's okay. Creativity doesn't have to always work. But part of the goal of the platform is to find feasible solutions to the problems proposed by the users. In this, bad or unuseful ideas drive us backwards. Of course they should be published and there should not be a negative criticism about them, but there should be an encouragement of the person to inform themselves better and work on their ideas a bit more before publishing them. This way we can strive for excellence in the platform and actually achieve something.
-Lastly, and this is more of a sociological topic, a lot of cultures see criticism and being wrong as a negative thing for a persons worth or status. This is why 95% of the students in a classroom (even in the university) will never make a question or voluntarily participate in class. They are afraid to be wrong and thus ridiculed for it. That's why people attach to their own ideas even when they are extremely flawed and the flaws are being pointed out. That's the thing we have to change. If we change this mentality and teach everyone that being wrong is fine, as long as you learn something from it, this would dramatically increase the amount of people that allow themselves to be creative and change their points of view, making us better as a society.
김수환 May 13, 2021
