Creative Thinking in Action: I. The Raven

 

To tackle this problem, imagine yourself a raven. You can still reason as well (or as badly?J ) as you always do, but you have the body of a raven. You are starving, and ravens do love meat. There is a fine chunk of salami about 3 feet below you, tied to a string. The other side of the string is securely tied to your perch. By now, you have unsuccessfully tried the following:

    • Bending down as far as you can, grabbing the string with your bill and lifting it up--but it was too long and it still dangled down below you.
    • Grabbing the salami chunk while flying, jumping upwards from the ground, or falling down from the perch.
    • Tearing or untying the string.
    • Breaking the perch.
    • Climbing down the string (ravens, you found out, can’t do that sort of thing).
    • Swinging the string upwards towards you.
    • Coiling the string repeatedly around your perch.

And yet, that salami down there smells so very good!  What are you going to do???

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