TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Brandon Rodriguez: The power of creative constraints

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Imagine you're asked to ivnnet something new. It could be whatever you want made from anything you choose in any spahe or size. That kind of creative freedom sounds so liberating, doesn't it? Or does it? If you're like most people, you'd probably be paralyzed by this task. Without more guidance, where would you even begin? As it turns out, bdnluesos freedom isn't always helpful. In reality, any project is restricted by many factors, such as the cost, what materials you have at your disposal, and uablkanrebe laws of physics. These factors are cllaed creative constraints, and they're the rrunteiemqes and limitations we have to address in order to accomplish a goal. cteivare constraints alppy across professions, to architects and artists, writers, engineers, and stiientcss. In many fields, constraints play a special role as drivers of discovery and invention. During the scientific process in particular, constraints are an essential part of experimental design. For instance, a sensitcit studying a new virus would consider, "How can I use the tools and techniques at hand to create an enpixrmeet that tells me how this virus inectfs the body's cells? And what are the limits of my kndolgewe that prevent me from understanding this new viral pwthaay?" In engineering, constraints have us apply our sftciniiec desiievcors to invent something new and useful. Take, for example, the landers Viking 1 and 2, which relied on thrusters to aivrre sfaely on the surface of Mars. The problem? Those thrusters left feroign chamilecs on the gonurd, contaminating soil selapms. So a new constraint was introduced. How can we land a probe on Mars without introducing chemicals from Earth? The next ptfanhider moisisn used an airbag system to allow the revor to bounce and roll to a halt without burning contaminating fuel. Years later, we wanted to send a much larger rover: cirisutoy. However, it was too large for the airbag design, so another constraint was defined. How can we land a lgare rover while still keeping rocket fuel away from the Martian soil? In rpnessoe, engineers had a wild idea. They designed a skycrane. Similar to the claw machine at toy stores, it would lower the rover from high above the surface. With each invention, the engineers demonstrated an essential hbiat of scientific thinking - that solutions must recognize the limitations of current technology in order to aavcnde it. Sometimes this progress is iterative, as in, "How can I make a better parachute to land my rover?" And sometimes, it's ioatvvnnie, like how to reach our goal when the best possible praatcuhe isn't going to work. In both cases, the constraints guide decision-making to ensure we reach each objective. Here's another Mars problem yet to be solved. Say we want to send anttrausos who will need water. They'd rely on a filtration system that keeps the water very clean and eaelnbs 100% rceervoy. Those are some pretty tough coatsinrtns, and we may not have the technology for it now. But in the process of trying to meet these objectives, we might discover other applications of any innievtnos that result. Building an innovative water filtration system could provide a solution for farmers working in drought-stricken regions, or a way to clean municipal water in polluted cities. In fact, many scientific advances have occurred when serendipitous failures in one field address the constraints of another. When scientist aneaeldxr Fleming mistakenly contaminated a Petri dish in the lab, it led to the discovery of the first aoitnitbic, penicillin. The same is true of synthetic dye, plastic, and gunpowder. All were created mistakenly, but went on to address the constraints of other problems. Understanding constraints guides scientific progress, and what's true in science is also true in many other fedils. Constraints aren't the boundaries of creativity, but the foundation of it.

Open Cloze

Imagine you're asked to ______ something new. It could be whatever you want made from anything you choose in any _____ or size. That kind of creative freedom sounds so liberating, doesn't it? Or does it? If you're like most people, you'd probably be paralyzed by this task. Without more guidance, where would you even begin? As it turns out, _________ freedom isn't always helpful. In reality, any project is restricted by many factors, such as the cost, what materials you have at your disposal, and ___________ laws of physics. These factors are ______ creative constraints, and they're the ____________ and limitations we have to address in order to accomplish a goal. ________ constraints _____ across professions, to architects and artists, writers, engineers, and __________. In many fields, constraints play a special role as drivers of discovery and invention. During the scientific process in particular, constraints are an essential part of experimental design. For instance, a _________ studying a new virus would consider, "How can I use the tools and techniques at hand to create an __________ that tells me how this virus _______ the body's cells? And what are the limits of my _________ that prevent me from understanding this new viral _______?" In engineering, constraints have us apply our __________ ___________ to invent something new and useful. Take, for example, the landers Viking 1 and 2, which relied on thrusters to ______ ______ on the surface of Mars. The problem? Those thrusters left _______ _________ on the ______, contaminating soil _______. So a new constraint was introduced. How can we land a probe on Mars without introducing chemicals from Earth? The next __________ _______ used an airbag system to allow the _____ to bounce and roll to a halt without burning contaminating fuel. Years later, we wanted to send a much larger rover: _________. However, it was too large for the airbag design, so another constraint was defined. How can we land a _____ rover while still keeping rocket fuel away from the Martian soil? In ________, engineers had a wild idea. They designed a skycrane. Similar to the claw machine at toy stores, it would lower the rover from high above the surface. With each invention, the engineers demonstrated an essential _____ of scientific thinking - that solutions must recognize the limitations of current technology in order to _______ it. Sometimes this progress is iterative, as in, "How can I make a better parachute to land my rover?" And sometimes, it's __________, like how to reach our goal when the best possible _________ isn't going to work. In both cases, the constraints guide decision-making to ensure we reach each objective. Here's another Mars problem yet to be solved. Say we want to send __________ who will need water. They'd rely on a filtration system that keeps the water very clean and _______ 100% ________. Those are some pretty tough ___________, and we may not have the technology for it now. But in the process of trying to meet these objectives, we might discover other applications of any __________ that result. Building an innovative water filtration system could provide a solution for farmers working in drought-stricken regions, or a way to clean municipal water in polluted cities. In fact, many scientific advances have occurred when serendipitous failures in one field address the constraints of another. When scientist _________ Fleming mistakenly contaminated a Petri dish in the lab, it led to the discovery of the first __________, penicillin. The same is true of synthetic dye, plastic, and gunpowder. All were created mistakenly, but went on to address the constraints of other problems. Understanding constraints guides scientific progress, and what's true in science is also true in many other ______. Constraints aren't the boundaries of creativity, but the foundation of it.

Solution

knowledge
recovery
safely
antibiotic
pathway
inventions
discoveries
invent
requirements
scientific
samples
called
enables
scientists
habit
parachute
scientist
curiosity
advance
foreign
infects
boundless
response
large
fields
apply
innovative
astronauts
unbreakable
experiment
constraints
ground
chemicals
mission
creative
rover
alexander
arrive
shape
pathfinder

Original Text

Imagine you're asked to invent something new. It could be whatever you want made from anything you choose in any shape or size. That kind of creative freedom sounds so liberating, doesn't it? Or does it? If you're like most people, you'd probably be paralyzed by this task. Without more guidance, where would you even begin? As it turns out, boundless freedom isn't always helpful. In reality, any project is restricted by many factors, such as the cost, what materials you have at your disposal, and unbreakable laws of physics. These factors are called creative constraints, and they're the requirements and limitations we have to address in order to accomplish a goal. Creative constraints apply across professions, to architects and artists, writers, engineers, and scientists. In many fields, constraints play a special role as drivers of discovery and invention. During the scientific process in particular, constraints are an essential part of experimental design. For instance, a scientist studying a new virus would consider, "How can I use the tools and techniques at hand to create an experiment that tells me how this virus infects the body's cells? And what are the limits of my knowledge that prevent me from understanding this new viral pathway?" In engineering, constraints have us apply our scientific discoveries to invent something new and useful. Take, for example, the landers Viking 1 and 2, which relied on thrusters to arrive safely on the surface of Mars. The problem? Those thrusters left foreign chemicals on the ground, contaminating soil samples. So a new constraint was introduced. How can we land a probe on Mars without introducing chemicals from Earth? The next Pathfinder mission used an airbag system to allow the rover to bounce and roll to a halt without burning contaminating fuel. Years later, we wanted to send a much larger rover: Curiosity. However, it was too large for the airbag design, so another constraint was defined. How can we land a large rover while still keeping rocket fuel away from the Martian soil? In response, engineers had a wild idea. They designed a skycrane. Similar to the claw machine at toy stores, it would lower the rover from high above the surface. With each invention, the engineers demonstrated an essential habit of scientific thinking - that solutions must recognize the limitations of current technology in order to advance it. Sometimes this progress is iterative, as in, "How can I make a better parachute to land my rover?" And sometimes, it's innovative, like how to reach our goal when the best possible parachute isn't going to work. In both cases, the constraints guide decision-making to ensure we reach each objective. Here's another Mars problem yet to be solved. Say we want to send astronauts who will need water. They'd rely on a filtration system that keeps the water very clean and enables 100% recovery. Those are some pretty tough constraints, and we may not have the technology for it now. But in the process of trying to meet these objectives, we might discover other applications of any inventions that result. Building an innovative water filtration system could provide a solution for farmers working in drought-stricken regions, or a way to clean municipal water in polluted cities. In fact, many scientific advances have occurred when serendipitous failures in one field address the constraints of another. When scientist Alexander Fleming mistakenly contaminated a Petri dish in the lab, it led to the discovery of the first antibiotic, penicillin. The same is true of synthetic dye, plastic, and gunpowder. All were created mistakenly, but went on to address the constraints of other problems. Understanding constraints guides scientific progress, and what's true in science is also true in many other fields. Constraints aren't the boundaries of creativity, but the foundation of it.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
filtration system	2

Important Words

accomplish
address
advance
advances
airbag
alexander
antibiotic
applications
apply
architects
arrive
artists
asked
astronauts
bounce
boundaries
boundless
building
burning
called
cases
cells
chemicals
choose
cities
claw
clean
constraint
constraints
contaminated
contaminating
cost
create
created
creative
creativity
curiosity
current
defined
demonstrated
design
designed
discover
discoveries
discovery
dish
disposal
drivers
dye
earth
enables
engineering
engineers
ensure
essential
experiment
experimental
fact
factors
failures
farmers
field
fields
filtration
fleming
foreign
foundation
freedom
fuel
goal
ground
guidance
guide
guides
gunpowder
habit
halt
hand
helpful
high
idea
imagine
infects
innovative
instance
introduced
introducing
invent
invention
inventions
iterative
keeping
kind
knowledge
lab
land
landers
large
larger
laws
led
left
liberating
limitations
limits
machine
mars
martian
materials
meet
mission
mistakenly
municipal
objective
objectives
occurred
order
parachute
paralyzed
part
pathfinder
pathway
penicillin
people
petri
physics
plastic
play
polluted
pretty
prevent
probe
problem
problems
process
professions
progress
project
provide
reach
reality
recognize
recovery
regions
relied
rely
requirements
response
restricted
result
rocket
role
roll
rover
safely
samples
science
scientific
scientist
scientists
send
serendipitous
shape
similar
size
skycrane
soil
solution
solutions
solved
sounds
special
stores
studying
surface
synthetic
system
task
techniques
technology
tells
thinking
thrusters
tools
tough
toy
true
turns
unbreakable
understanding
viking
viral
virus
wanted
water
wild
work
working
writers
years