Today, a reflection on creativity and time. The University of
Houston's College of Engineering presents this series about the
machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose
ingenuity created them. David Landes's book, Revolution in Time,
begins by quoting Lewis Mumford: "The clock is not merely a
means of keeping track of the hours, but of synchronizing Well,
now! Synchronicity is a seductive enemy of creativity. Didn't
Mussolini begin by making the trains run on time? I fight like a
trapped animal when anyone tries to schedule my time. A line
from the show Fantasticks tells us to recall "that special place
where once -- just once -- you hid away in shadows from the
tyranny of time." Good advice! The first step on the way to
finding our creative center is turning off the Landes reminds us
that, in the 11th century, Chinese water-clock making was far
ahead of Europe's. Soon after, China turned her back on creative
clock-making, and the West began driving the technologies of
time. Why did the Wes