Click to listen to the audio version of this Daily Paradox.

The spark plug has not changed much in the 150 years since it was invented. This reliable little device ignites countless trillions of explosions in car engine chambers. It works well but ignites only the compressed fuel immediately around it causing waste and, because of the unburnt fuel, pollution. Lasers ignite more of the fuel, increasing efficiency and reducing waste and pollution.

The analogy between the spark plug and any stimulus to our brain is a good one. The brain is kicked into action by observing something from within it or outside it, mainly the latter. Something triggers thoughts and we start to relate them to our and other people’s needs. When you see a dripping tap you turn it off. If it won’t turn off, you call a plumber and have it fixed. That is a simple stimulus with obvious responses. The spark plug of the dripping tap has triggered obvious action.

Suppose, however, that the observed tap also stimulated thoughts about the need to prevent dripping taps worldwide. They are a source of massive loss of water, now regarded as the most precious and most endangered commodity on the planet. We might then proceed to think about how to use the pressure behind the flow of water to effectively seal taps when they are not immediately required. Such taps exist; you can find them in many public washrooms. As long as you exert pressure on the tap it will run; when you stop, it seals.

How cold we produce simpler, cheaper and more universal versions of this desirable technology?

Creative thinking is to the mind what lasers are to the combustion chamber of an engine. In addition to seeing obvious answers to immediate problems, it also stimulates the brain to think more widely and create inventions and solve problems beyond the immediate and obvious.

Today’s minds need the laser of creativity to maximize our ability to develop ideas and to reduce waste. New technology is the first source of what will help an over-crowded planet survive. It is also now clear that an actively stimulated and perpetually functioning mind is much less susceptible to dementia and related diseases and can go on functioning actively well into old age.

If you have not found the laser of creativity now could be the moment to do so.