Mind Performance Hacks

Hack #25. Think Analogically

Use analogies to solve problems and extend old ideas in new directions.

In "Enjoy Good, Clean Memetic Sex" [Hack #26], I compare thinking to sex and explore the consequences of that analogy. However, I don't explore the process of comparison itself and how to elaborate the analogy derived. Making analogies is an excellent thinking hack, and the techniques for doing so are worth exploration.

Recent studies indicate that much creative thought is the result of cognitive blending—mapping the elements of one idea onto another—a primary form of which is analogy.¹ Thinking analogically can help you to create more prolifically,² and recent advances in formalization of analogical thought mean that you can understand the richness available ever more rigorously.³

In Action

Although there are many ways to approach the process of creating and exploring analogies, this hack focuses on two of them— tables of correspondences and kennings—and the ways in which they're related.

Tables of correspondences

First, consider Table 3-3, which summarizes some of the extended thought/sex analogy.

Table 3-3. Simple comparison of thought and sex

Thought	Sex
Brain	Genitalia
Reading	Insemination
Understanding	Conception
Creation	Offspring

Each item in the first column corresponds to the item in the same row in the second column. For example, creation in the Thought column corresponds to offspring in the Sex column.

Table 3-3 is also similar to an old concept, the table of correspondences ...