Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives

by Tim Harford

The argument of this book is that we often succumb to the temptation of a tidy-minded approach when we would be better served by embracing a degree of mess.

“You’re asking the blood in your brain to flow in another direction.” Bowie, Eno, and Darwin: How Frustration and Distraction Help Us Solve Problems in Art, Science, and Life

But there are those who take it for granted that such accidents can and should be planned; they feel that messy situations will tend to provide fertile creative soil.

Bowie found what he needed: new ideas, new constraints, and new challenges.

a new direction—not so much composing songs as carving them out of blocks of sound—Eno took to showing up at the studio with a selection of cards he called Oblique Strategies.

Be the first not to do what has never not been done before Emphasize the flaws Only a part, not the whole Twist the spine Look at the order in which you do things Change instrument roles

This is an example of what mathematicians call an NP-hard problem. NP-hard problems are a bit like enormous combination locks: if you’re given a solution it is easy to check if it works, but it would take an impossibly long time to find the solution yourself by systematically trying every combination.

A good algorithm will get you a decent solution without taking forever.

For example, an algorithm called “simulated annealing” starts with an almost random search, willing to try any change, good or bad. Then it slowly becomes fussier and fussier about what changes it will accept, until eventually it has turned into a rigid search for small step-by-step improvements.

The combination of gradual improvements and random shocks turns out to be a very effective way to approach a host of difficult problems.