Thinking different

I was overhearing a conversation while waiting for a meeting. One student was saying that it is important to think differently in order to solve difficult problem. Interesting we have heard this enough. Thinking different is always the hard thing to do. Now let me say something opposite: research is different beast and it requires significant similar thinking as well.

What I meant to say is thinking like what people have been thinking for years is similarly important in research. Why, because it gives us the perspective of other people. Why other people perspective is important? Because it's the inside that helps to grab the problem in the first place. In research you got to know the problem first and you need to put yourself on the other people shoe to understand the problem. Because they are the people who faced the problem.

Now, not every problem requires bizzarely different solutions. For example people are thinking of the creation of universe as an evolution; an idea two hundred years old. Evolution solves some of the modern physics' problems elegantly. Of course new ideas are very important for research. We have heard it enough but what I never heard of is putting yourself on other people's shoe also very important. Thinking different is not the only thing that guarantees success in research. Research requires significant copying as well. We need to learn how to stand on the shoulder of the giants not just denying them. Denying them would definitely take you to the new direction but understanding them is the starting point.