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Comment by ggm | Hacker News Reader

An ego the size of the planet. Brilliant communications about frankly not very much. Had some lunatic ideas (read Wikipedia for his zinc/peace story) and shopped a metaphor to death.

He was oversold in the 70s. You couldn't move for stories about him.

Professional "geniuses" need the quotes. Pinker, Kurzweil.. all of them are much-in-little.

(He was, unquestionably, bloody smart. Far smarter than the average Joe, far far smarter than me. He wasted his talents. Consider Robert McNamara. Don't agree with a lot he did, (Vietnam!) but I suspect he was a similar calibre to De Bono)

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You should consider his thoughts in the time he wrote them. His broad point of view is mainstream today. His specific methods are not. In the early 70s his way of thinking was new.

Consider Sigmund Freud and his wild theories. Almost everything he did is now considered wrong today. His only lasting impact is popularizing the idea of unconsciousness. The idea of unconsciousness desires, needs, and thoughts affecting our life so mainstream today it's hard to comprehend that it was not in the conceptual toolbox in the west before him. (Friedrich Schelling predated Freud but his works were largely ignored during his time)

Perhaps but I did find Six Thinking hats useful when I was working. The main advantage was to nip prospective "devils advocates" too early in the process.

Maybe there's an echo of it in agile "personas" analysis of user needs. (Something I am equally sceptical about btw: not the analysis, the value of personification)

> I did find Six Thinking hats useful

The biggest impact life lesson I had from that book was to be upfront with my feelings (red hat.) Unacknowledged emotions sit in the background and strongly influence thinking while often being quite dumb. Emotions brought out in the open tend to shrink to their proper significance and can be quite informative.

The marmite/zinc story was in the linked article as well.

I actually think it's quite cool as an example of lateral thinking, which is exploratory in nature. It was not a proposed "solution".

It's probably true that better nutrition reduces conflict but it would be a stretch to say that lies at the root of the Arab - Israeli conflict.

> but it would be a stretch

I'd say it's condescending -- and even insulting -- to everyone involved. Ideas shouldn't be censored during a brainstorming session but this is something else

Having read it a month ago when the obit first came out I didn't reread this time. I thought it got a mention. The comment-is-free on the obit has a fair mix of pro and the more oppositional views like mine.

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