I have the feeling this will be a long entry… I mean, every time I type Csikszentmihalyi's name, it seems to take up half the line…
 
All kidding aside, I particularly enjoyed Csikszentmihalyi's reference to the Yogiism, “you can observe a lot by just watching.” Csikszentmihalyi mentioned the phrase not once, but a few times. This phrase is one of Yogi Berra’s many redundancies. Yogi Berra was a baseball player for the New York Yankees and often took potshots for some of his redundant, ironic and seemingly contradictory phrases. But many people today do not realize that Yogi Berra was actually a fairly intelligent person and not just some dumb baseball ballplayer. Too often, people hear Yogiisms including, “it ain’t over till it’s over,” or “I didn’t really say everything I said,” and they assume he was somewhat dim. Wouldn’t you if this was all you heard? However, as a catcher in baseball, and maybe more importantly a catcher for the New York Yankees, Yogi was responsible for controlling pitchers as well as directing and leading the seven other ball players on the field (you don’t believe it? Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catcher). And Yogi was one of the best catchers in the game, calling two no-hitters, one of which was Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers. But Yogi was not just a great catcher; Yogi also managed in the majors, leading the Yankees to the World Series in 1964 (only to lose to St. Louis). 

Nevertheless, to return to his so called Yogiisms, there are boatloads of phrases we mention in reality that are somewhat paradoxical (or redundant, or contradictory), but are truly insightful if we sit back and ponder them. Just the other day, during an SL2 lab meeting I mentioned Apple’s success was due to their ability to produce a shortage. It was a spur of the moment saying and a more appropriate way to put it would be Apple’s ability to produce a demand, but the idea of producing a shortage has its own unique effect, which I thought was funny and even remarked that I just said a Yogiism. Anyway, you can find out more about Yogi’s Yogiisms, check out the following link from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogiisms
 
To leave this tangent on a tangent, let me focus intently on the Yogiism, “you can observe a lot by just watching.” Csikszentmihalyi used this phrase as a starting point for induction, which then leads to generalizations, which lead to theory building, resulting in hypotheses. Hypotheses are then tested through observations, thus completing the never-ending cycle of knowledge (another Yogiism). The cycle of knowledge is similar to a feedback loop whereupon return to the start brings about a new perspective, new observations, new generalizations, new theories and new hypotheses. (Maybe they should put new in front of each of the terms.) For me, this notion once again returns to the emergent properties of systems and that a system is more than just a sum of its parts (check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_theory).

To elaborate on the power of observation, Csikszentmihalyi used the example of his seven year-old son, who conducted a simple experiment because he observed that his father wasn’t listening to his stories. His son begins with a basic observation and builds on it to make the generalization that all adults don’t listen (based likely on other observations). Although his son bypassed the notion of theory (after-all he was only 7) he began to conduct his experiment to further support his generalization. I’m not really sure what happens after this point, since I stopped listening, but what is important is the role observation and induction plays in knowledge. In my experience, I have found that great scientists often begin with simple inquiries about the real world. My favorite is still Einstein’s fascination on what it would look like if he were to ride a beam of light, which would eventually lead to his Special Theory of Relativity and E=mc².

a blog entry by Brian Thoms