Card #41 – ”Build On Odd Ideas”

Card #41 – ”Build On Odd Ideas” from the Creative Whack Pack

Available on the iOS App Store and as a physical deck of cards

“If this unusual thing is true, what else is true?” is the formula for improv thinking.

If you hear an odd idea, say: “Yes, that’s interesting — where does it lead us?”

Suppose humans had seven fingers on each hand. How would music change? More intricate fingering on stringed instruments and more complex chord possibilities on the piano.

In sports, two finger-opposing thumbs could give players a better “grasp” and allow them to put different kinds of spin on thrown balls.How would we catch balls? Would we be more sure-handed? Can’t you just see some players, after a good play, saying: “Gimme seven, gimme fourteen.” That raises an interesting point: maybe our number system would be Base 14 instead of Base 10.

Hand tools could be redesigned to include more control functions. You could name your fingers after the days of the week, and if someone did something you didn’t like, you could flip them a
“Wednesday.”

Would more people be in the jewelry business? What kind of piano music would be written? What would hand tools look like?

What would computer keyboards look like? Perhaps there wouldn’t be keyboards at all, but something else like “key-spheres.”


— What odd ideas can you build on?

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