Where Do Ideas Come From?

We are proud to have Dr. Milton Tan featured in “Pioneers, Provocateurs, Possibilists: Humans of Singapore” a book by Dave Lim, the founder of TEDx Singapore. This book features the passion, purpose and perspectives of 26 TED and TEDx speakers, intended to amaze, astonish, awe and, above all, spark vast and wonderful possibilities within you!

“In fact, ideas are all around us, but its is like saying knowledge is all around us. But why is it that some people have somehow greater access and see more ideas than others?”

My favorite cartoon strips are from the Calvin and Hobbes series of ‘aha’ moments while sledding dangerously downhill in unmarked trails. In one of these, trust Calvin to figure out that in order to increase your chances to be at the right place and the right time, first find the right place and then hang around there long enough until the right time comes along!

Designers instinctively hang out in places, at events, and with people that would invariably shape their ideas and values. These include the constructed worlds of movies, theatre, novels, art, gaming, not forgetting cartoons, and the Internet.”