If you choose two completely unrelated businesses, how long will it take you to invent a convincing product that unites them?

Great creators from different centuries and different fields have talked about the magic that can bubble when seemingly unrelated ideas collide. Einstein called it Combinatory Play and of it he said: “Combinatory Play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought.”

“Creativity is just combining things,” said Steve Jobs. And in his much-read book On Writing: Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King wrote: “Let’s get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.”

Some people will try to develop their cognitive combinatory skills by plomping themselves in a strange environment, looking for interesting passers-by, then crafting an on-the-spot story that links them.

What mysterious things will happen when these three people come together on Valentine’s Day in the streets of Salzburg?

Written by Elizabeth Newton
www.creatorsvancouver.com