It seems that most scientists who study why our mind wanders assume that it is a bad thing ("Scientists explore the `wanders' of the human mind," March 23, page 9).
Sometimes it is a bad thing, but often it isn't.
Creativity research consistently shows that "incubation," some quiet time in which the thinker is not concerned with the problem at hand, helps with problem-solving. Piaget, for example, went for walks when faced with hard problems in his work and Einstein played his violin.
Both found that solutions came easily after a short period of relaxation. Research also shows that good thinkers actually schedule in "idle time" after periods of hard work.
When the mind wanders, at least in some cases, it may be because the mind needs to "incubate" over a problem. Artificially forcing the thinker to stay "focused," without allowing incubation, might inhibit creative thinking.
Remember when you were staring at the ceiling in elementary school and the teacher asked you whether the answer was on the ceiling? Maybe it was.
Stephen Krashen
Los Angeles, California
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry