Juice

CHAPTER 5

Transcending Boundaries

All Fulton did was to locate an efficient new Watt engine in a warehouse and, in 1807, install it in a well-designed boat.

—JOHN LIENHARD, The Engines of Our Ingenuity

 

 

INVENTORS OFTEN NEED TO GO beyond the area of their training or past experience and extend themselves into new realms. They need to sense an opportunity to bridge two industries, two intellectual domains, or two different worlds. They need to combine conceptual models that have never been put together before. They need to cross or transcend boundaries.

In the realm of creativity, the bridging of two worlds is known by more precise terms. Sometimes it’s called “boundary transgression.” Other times it’s called “bisociation.” As defined by Arthur ...