SMUCKS talk about human biology

Writing stories and brainstorming can overlap. With the SMUCKS approach, I write a discussion on a subject that takes place between the members of the Star Trek crew. The acronym SMUCKS represents the six main Star Trek characters:

1. Spock.
2. McCoy.
3. Uhura.
4. Chekov.
5. Kirk.
6. Scotty.

The discussion between the SMUCKS can lead to just about anywhere, but I like to pick out:

New ideas.
Areas for investigation and exploration.
Fresh tangents.
Focuses.
Gaps in my own knowledge becoming apparent.
Story ideas.

How

I can use any of the methods that featured in the Methods to generate speech post. For this example I'll use the sound of the writing of two randomly-chosen numbers to inspire ideas for speech.

The subject I'm choosing is human biology because I didn't study it at school and I know very little about it.

I use a dice to choose which of the SMUCKS characters speaks.

So, to start off:

The dice rolls a 6. That means Scotty speaks.
Then the two dice roll a 3 and a 6. I write those numbers and listen to the sound the writing makes.To me - with the subject of human biology in mind -  that sounds like "I could drop dead tonight".

So that gives:

Scotty: I could drop dead tonight.

The conversation continues:

The dice rolls 5 = Kirk speaks.
The two dice roll a 5 and 2. To me that sounds like, "It it was happening, would you know it?"

Thus:

Kirk: If it was happening, would you know it?

And then I continue the process to develop the conversation:

McCoy. It depends if the brain can still function.
McCoy: It might go on functioning
Chekov: Wait! How could it function?

Kirk: Is it because the brain itself wouldn't be damaged?
Uhura: What if a device could sustain it?
Spock: You'd have to act fast.
Uhura: Or the brain would be deprived of oxygen.
Scotty: What if that was a desirable state?

Chekov: Like you stay at a stage of death?
McCoy: Could you measure the stage?
Spock: Or be at that stage without dying?
Spock: I could see this leading to a discussion on ethics!
Kirk: Or the potential of the human brain.

Spock: Our priority should be to cure mental illness.
Chekov: I wish I could've helped my mother.
McCoy: Did she suffer from mental illness?
Scotty: It's hard to watch a loved one suffer.
McCoy: Which is why this should be a priority.

You can see that the conversation develops and in some ways develops a life of its own. The conversation moved into the subjects of psychology and ethics. On the subject of human biology I became aware of gaps in my knowledge and asked questions such as:
What does the brain need to function?
How damaged could a brain be and still manage to function/produce consciousness?
Could an artificial environment support a brain?
How much oxygen does the brain need?
What does the brain do with oxygen?

I also thought of a good idea for a sci-fi story: A scientist discovers a way to make parts of a brain switch off. At a certain stage a person fills euphoria, but at a later stage they experience an increase in artistic creativity, but that comes with mental illness. Does the scientists turn bad and exploit the artistic creativity of the subjects whilst they suffer?

See also

The SMUCKS talk internet

A to Z of useful words.

I've been collecting useful words for many years. That is, words that appear to be key when thinking about a subject, and thus lead to the listing of the most useful information. I've (just about) managed to squeeze them into an alphabet where every letter of the alphabet represents one of the useful words. Here they are:

A: Action.
B: Belief.
C: Cause. (As in something that causes an event. Or a trigger.)
D: Duration. (Any period of time or one specific time.)
E: Event.
F. Feeling. (Or emotion.)
G. Goal. (Or purpose, objective, etc.)
H. Helpful thought. (and positive thoughts. And pros, if listing pros and cons.)
I. Idea.
J. Juncture. (A specific moment in time.)
K. Key-fact.
L. Liver. (Bit of a squeeze; anything that's alive, but usually a person.)
M. Milieu. (Another squeeze. Basically a situation or a scenario.)
N. Negative, unhelpful thought. (Or con, if listing pros and cons.)
O. Object. (As in a tangible object.)
P. Problem.
Q. Question or quibble. (The questions are any question that may arise about a subject. The quibbles are attacks, challenges etc.)
R. Result. (Or consequence.)
S. Solution. (As in the solution to a problem.)
T. The Big Picture. (Or The Whole Affair. Or The Story So Far.)
U. Utterance.
V. A Place. (Another squeeze. I think of the V as representing an arrow that points to a place.)
W. Words. (Or body of words. Ranging from single words up to books etc.)
X. Mistake. (The X represents the crossing out of a mistake.)
Y. Decision. (The stem of the Y representing a direction of thought and the "V" part representing options available, thus a decision.)
Z. Zoom to the future. (Expectations.)

Using the words.

Say the subject is London.

I'll use the format: Name London X

and select a random letter for the X. So Q for quibble would give:

Name a London quibble.

Possibilities: Too much rubbish. Too much pollution. Travel is expensive. Etc.

Another example:

Name a London milieu (situation, scenario):

Possibilities: The New Years Eve celebrations. Crowding on the tube. The Queen's birthday celebrations. Terror attacks. Etc.

Doubles

I like to use two of the words in combination.

Example:

Name a London KZ =  Name a London key-fact expectation.

Possibility: If I research London I'll find lots of interesting facts I didn't know.

Example 2:

Name a London ER = event result.

Possibilities: Winner of the FA Cup. Spectators' ratings of the 2012 Olympics. The role of the London Marathon in motivating people to keep fit. Etc.

The Pangram

I pick the random letters from the following pangram:

The five boxing wizards jump quickly.

Random Word Generator

Highly recommended:

Random Word Generator

DO IT technique

This is a nice simple process to approach creativity.

DO IT 

SSILD Lucid Dreaming Technique

There is now a blog about the SSILD lucid dreaming technique:

SSILD lucid dreaming

29 Ways to Stay Creative

29 Ways to Stay Creative

SSILD lucid dreaming technique

I recommend this new lucid dreaming technique:

Lucid dreaming technique: SSILD, Senses Initiated Lucid Dream.

A quick summary: In bed at night, you do a number of cycles where each cycle focuses on observing the darkness behind your eyelids, listening to the noise in your ears, and noticing body sensations.

More lucid dreaming techniques to come soon!

Reverse Blinking Technique

A friend alerted me to this Reverse Blinking technique. I was sceptical at first, but I was so amazed by the results I felt compelled to share.

What Reverse Blinking may do for you:

Nothing (it doesn't work for everyone.)
Put you to sleep quickly.
Make you so tired you feel you have to sleep.
Put you into a trance so that you can use autosuggestion.
Initiate hypnagogic hallucinations (that is, the kind of hallucinations we experience pre-sleep).

How you do it:

1) Lie down comfortably, as if you're going to sleep.
2) Relax. Close your eyes.
3) Count to five in your head.
4) On the count of five reverse blink: that is, open your eyes quickly (but in a relaxed manner) and close them again. (NB: I estimate that the reverse blinks are about twice the duration of a normal blink - with the eye-opening the duration of one normal blink, and the eye-closing the duration of one normal blink.)
5) Repeat stages three and four.


Experimenting with hypnagogic hallucinations

I wanted to see if I could combine Reverse Blinking with autosuggestion to control the images I would see in hypnagogic hallucinations. I achieved this simply: In my count to four (before the reverse-blink) I would insert the suggestion: "I will see an image of London". Then, after a while - once my eyelids were feeling very tired - I stopped reverse-blinking but continued with the counting to five and the London suggestion. On the count of five I was finding that random images of London places were popping into my head, without any attempt to visualise on my part.

Experiments

There are some experiments I want to try with this technique.

1) I want to see if I can make the hallucinations creative: I'd make a suggestion like, "I'll see a good idea about a place in London" etc.

2) I want to use the suggestion, "I'll see a memory from my childhood my conscious mind has forgotten".

3) On some occasions I've actually stopped blinking and dreamed that I was continuing to blink. I would be interesting in finding out what happens if I create a trigger to ensure I keep blinking and don't fall asleep. Maybe this would be a metronome in 5/4 time. The sound of the metronome click would remind me not to fall asleep. What will I experience when I continue Reverse Blinking beyond the stage where I'd normally fall asleep?

Trying it

Would love to know how others get on with this. I expect that some people will find that it doesn't work at all, while others will, like me, be amazed. When I used the technique two days ago I was reverse-blinking and thinking to myself, "It isn't going to work this time" but within two reverse-blinks I was hallucinating.

A word of warning though: hypnagogic hallucinations can be frightening.

Thinking about thinking...a great blog

If you're like me and enjoy thinking about thinking - and thinking of ways to improve your thinking - then I highly recommend Luciano Passuello's Litemind site.

The site has a simple mission:

To explore ways to use our minds efficiently.

The site is full of information on creativity skills, memory skills (including such methods as the Major system and Roman Room system), self improvement strategies, and Mind Maps on well-known books (such as The Medici Effect). There are also some wise words on overcoming "the dreaded P" - procrastination!

I can't recommend this blog highly enough.

Flip-flop Technique for Creating Ideas and Fresh, Relevant Brainstorming Challenges

This flip-flop technique can quickly generate a list of ideas and fresh, relevant brainstorm challenges. There are three key stages:

1) I create (or find an existing) brainstorm challenge
2) I create an idea for that challenge
3) (The most important stage) I create a hindsight-brainstorm: that is, I look at the idea created at stage 2 and ask "If a brainstorm challenge had created this idea, what could that brainstorm challenge have been? How would it have been worded?"

Example

Say, for example, I am the boss of a pizza shop and I want to improve my business. I can set the brainstorm challenge:

How can I improve my pizza shop?

It's not too difficult to create an idea for this. Maybe:

Have a varied menu

Now for the hindsight-brainstorm: I ask myself: What brainstorm challenge could've created that idea? Maybe:

How can I attract customers?

The cycle continues and for this I create the idea:

Provide small samples of pizzas

Hindsight-brainstorm: What brainstorm could have created this idea? Maybe:

How can I get people to try my pizzas?

Idea: Go to local sporting events and open a stall with samples

Hindsight-brainstorm: How can I use local sporting events to attract customers?

Idea: Put advertising posters at local sports grounds

Hindsight-brainstorm: How can I use local sports grounds to promote my pizzas?

Idea: Offer a catering service for events/functions held at the sports ground

Problems and possibilities

Problem: Can't think of any ideas?

If my brainstorm challenge is:

How can I make my pizza menu interesting?

and I can't think of any ideas, I can simply ask the question: In what ways is the pizza menu already interesting? One possibility could be:

It has lots of striking colours

which expressed as an idea reads:

Add lots of colour to make the menu more appealing

From this point I can either build on that idea and increase the degree (add yet more colours (maybe to appeal to children?) to the menu) or create a hindsight-brainstorm such as:

What would make my menus more appealing?

Problem: Can't create a hindsight-brainstorm?

If I'm struggling to think of a hindsight-brainstorm for any idea, I can choose one of Kipling's six honest serving men -- what, who, when, where, why, how (here's a mnemonic) -- and pick one random word from the idea to see if I can combine the two to construct a hindsight-brainstorm challenge.

For example, if my idea is:

Provide small samples of pizzas

My hindsight-brainstorms could be (among many options)

(What & pizza) = what can I do with pizzas to attract new customers?
(Who can't create a hindsight-brainstorm for this idea)
(When doesn't work)
(Where doesn't work)
(Why & pizza) = why would I cut a pizza into small pieces?
(How & small) = how can I give customers a sample or "small taste" of my products?

Possibility: Keeping one challenge or idea

Of course, at any stage I can decide to keep using one hindsight-brainstorm challenge and continue creating ideas. If the brainstorm is: How can I use local sporting events to attract customers? My ideas could include:

Sponsor a local sporting event
Start a new sports event -- the "pizza shop cup"!
Put advertising at local sports events
Offer discounts to sports fans who can provide a ticket from the sports event

And I can create multiple hindsight-brainstorms from one idea. If my idea is: attract passers-by by putting special offers in the window, my hindsight-brainstorms could include:

Where can I advertise special offers?
Who would be attracted by special offers in the window?
How can I target passers-by?
Why would I be putting something in the window?

Game/Exercise

I started this game/exercise in BrainReactions' Brainstorming Tool :

Flip-Flop Brainstorming Challenges/Ideas: How Can I Improve My Creativity?

Will be interesting to see how it pans out!



brainstorming
ideas
creativity