the polymathic principle #2

The polymathic principle is all about realising the importance of polymathy in our lives, especially in any area that requires creativity. Being creative is about borrowing or stealing ideas from other arenas. It's about cross-fertilisation of ideas from perhaps wildly differing sources. When Richard Feynman came up with the maths for quantum electro dynamics he was spinning a plate on his finger and just wondering if he could describe its wobbles mathematically. He was cross- fertilising between a physical fun activity and the hyper intellectual activity of maths. Just getting outside your claustrophobic little area is sometimes all you need. The polymathic principle states that the greater the distance between the source areas of an idea the more potent it is likely to be. A polymath should have physical, artistic, intellectual areas of interest- ensuring a well stocked source for new ideas to cross-fertilise.