Logic is pretty straight forward: take a concept, add facts, follow the numbers and arrive at a conclusion. Lateral thinking is related to logic, but it removes the single concept and replaces that with many. For example, I once read about an engineer that was tasked with making ball bearings. The problem was in a part of the plant where the ball bearings had to make a 20 foot drop, and they always were damaged during such a long fall. His solution was to create many small drops, with several angled platforms making the ball bearings go down the same path but in small increments, thus preventing damage. The neat thing is, that isn't the only solution possible.
Lateral thinking is a manner of arriving at novel solutions to problems. It's "thinking out of the box" kind of stuff. Being able to bring in ideas that may at first seem silly, but prove useful. And, there isn't a single correct answer. With lateral thinking, any answer you can support will work. My riddle has many answers, but I will give you mine at the end. So, work on it.
From time immemorial, humans have asked riddles of each other. I think the real reason is we like challenging our minds, demonstrate our intelligence, or humiliate those who don't know. Mostly, I believe riddles teach, and in particular teach how to think. The challenge with riddles is to out-think the creator, and that makes it a game. And that brings me to lateral thinking riddles, where the challenge becomes to think of as many answers as possible. There might be hundreds or thousands of correct answers!
- M
So, my riddle... The man is sitting in an airline seat, on a plane. He falls asleep while on the runway, but is startled awake when the plane lands and thumps the ground. Without opening his eyes, he knows he has arrived at his destination and is therefore in a different place.
<note, this isn't the only solution, there are many possibilities.>
How many answers did you come up with? I'd love to hear them.
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