著名科幻小说作家Douglas Adams (他最为著名的作品是《The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy》)在遗作《The Salmon of Doubt》中写道:
I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:
Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.
译成中文(基于网译稍作补充)是:
我发现了一系列规则来描述我们对于技术的反应:
任何在我出生时已经有的科技都是稀松平常的,不过是世界本来秩序的一部分;
任何在我15-35岁之间诞生的科技都是新鲜而激动人心的,它们将会革命性地改变世界,我或许可以借此开展一番大事业;
任何在我35岁之后诞生的科技都是违反自然规律要遭天谴的。
我曾在朋友圈发过这段话,一位朋友误以为这3点是某个人自己的看法,便评论道:“这个人好狂妄啊。”其实这段话说的是我们每个人自己源自自己经历而有的、自己难以察觉的盲点。就像那句话:“你没有错,你只是老了。”
意识到自己会有盲点,然后去用心观察和体会世界展现出来的多样性,是创新的伊始。