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Futurlogics is a Thinking System and a Method of Research using the minds reaction to the future. This is the system of research used to investigate the unknown by developing the natural intuition in all of us.

History as a point of reference for charting the course ahead is obsolete. Soon absolutes will become mere variables. New tools are needed to prepare for the times ahead.

Futurlogics is an expanding spiral of thought to organize and systemize all the principles of thinking future through DMP.

Predicting, preparing, and planning with the understanding gained through reading this handbook will liberate the mind to think as it should.

"SIX THINKING HATS" vs FUTURLOGICS

Side by Side Comparison

• FUTURLOGICS authored by james n. hall copyright February 1983

• "SIX THINKING HATS" authored by Dr. Edward de Bono copyright 1985

• Six modes in Futurlogics page 36 in FUTURLOGICS. Six Hats in "Six Thinking Hats" page 31 in "SIX THINKING HATS".

• FUTURLOGICS compared thinking modes to the colors of the rainbow or kaleidoscope page 37 in FUTURLOGICS. Six Hats color coded Chapter 7 in "SIX THINKING HATS".

• Futurlogics defines modes of thinking and their conversion to model type of thinking Chapters 4 through 9 in FUTURLOGICS. Six Thinking Hats quote "The six thinking hats method is designed to switch thinking away from the normal argument style to a map making style page 199 in "SIX THINKING HATS".

• If FUTURLOGICS were to put a hat on it would be "The Rainbow Hat" but since the future is considered FUTURLOGICS goes beyond to enlighten thinking.

• FUTURLOGICS forecasts "mode free thinking" or DMP which is only being discovered of late by the Six Thinking Hats system. Mode free thinking is synthesis.

• "Six Thinking Hats" is recommended as a beginners resource to FUTURLOGICS.

The de Bono hats system of thinking employs three tiers of six components namely:

• PERSONAL INVOLVEMENT with knowledge/thinking: i.e. passion, intuition,  opinion, feelings, objectivity, clinical observation, factual vs emotional, WHITE THINKING HAT vs RED THINKING HAT.

• LOGICAL INVOLVEMENT with knowledge/thinking: i.e. judgment, evaluation, pessimism, optimism, looking for errors  vs looking for good points, BLACK THINKING HAT vs YELLOW THINKING HAT

• VOLITIONAL INVOLVEMENT with knowledge/thinking: "right brain vs left brain", focus thought vs divergence thought, thought generation vs thought efficiency, thinking about thinking vs thinking of thinking, choice reduction vs choice production, possibilities vs probabilities, organization and control vs free form and surprising, provocative vs calming, GREEN THINKING HAT vs BLUE THINKING HAT.

(NOTE: An oversight by Dr. Edward deBono is that the RED,YELLOW,GREEN HATS are essentially Right Brain(enlightenment,eclectic) type of thinking and the BLACK,WHITE, BLUE HAT are essentially Left Brain(truth,continuous,linear) type of thinking. It looks as if he has them mixed on the cover of his book. The exception to this is that the facet of Blue Hat that deals with metacognition is both Right and Left brained at once. Yet, they are artificially define metaphors, and may not represent this model.)

        These tiers are bipolar in that they will retreat to a zone of action.  The WHITE THINKING HAT lives in informational sources RED THINKING HAT lives in opinion, intuition, art.  The BLACK THINKING HAT demands the "letter of the law" and fears the consequences of breaking rules and restraints of  safety; and, the YELLOW THINKING HAT expects the "spirit of the law" and looks for intents rather than deeds.  The GREEN THINKING HAT explores the edge of the map breaks trails, creates options, expands choices, generates new ideas, efficiency is measured in the number of new ideas produced where the BLUE THINKING HAT generalizes thought and consciousness is organized  and systematized in one concerted focus, assimilates new ideas and efficiency is measured in terms of thought control.

        The FUTURLOGICS system of thinking by james n. hall is not polar but rather is complementary of a holistic method/model.  They are all directed to one end which is DMP : (D)irect (M)ind (P)erception and (D)irect (M)ental (P)rocess.  There are six modes/models in FUTURLOGICS.

(D)irect (M)ind (P)erception represents enlightenment in consciousness. (D)irect (M)ental (P)rocess  represents reason in truth.

 Everything is directed to DMP in the FUTURLOGICS system.

                                          DMP
                                           |
                                    TRUTH and LIGHT
             TRUTH is knowledge of FUTURE     LIGHT is principles of intelligence
             TRUTH is knowledge of PRESENT    LIGHT is intuition and insight
             TRUTH is knowledge of PAST       LIGHT is logic and reason

 TRUTH COMPLIMENTS
 PAST: Retrospective mode.............Absolute future
 PRESENT: Observational mode..............Natural future
 FUTURE: Model mode.....................Paradigm future

 LIGHT COMPLIMENTS
INTUITION and INSIGHT: Imaginary mode................Imaginary future
LOGIC and REASON: Assumptive mode..............Artificial future
PRINCIPLES of INTELLIGENCE: Creative mode.................Synthetic future

        The future in FUTURLOGICS is used as a provocation to thought and as a leveler to dogma and academic impedance to new thought and ideas. The future as total abstraction develops the mind to deal with things that are purely mental and subject to reason and intuition.  It is a natural "brain storm".  And finally the future is a short reference to all the things and events that we have yet to learn and experience and it is the frontier on the mind.  Everywhere future is mentioned think the unknown or the vista of our method.

        There are clear difference between FUTURLOGICS and "Six Thinking Hats" of Dr. de Bono.

Quote Dr. de Bono.

        There are two main purposes to the six thinking hats concept.  The first purpose is to simplify thinking by allowing a thinker to deal with one thing at a time. Instead of having to take care of emotions, logic, information, hope, and creativity all at the same time,

Quote Mr. Hall

     The minimum requirement of Futurlogics is to be able to use more than one mode.  This freefloating effect of transferring awareness to the mode in which one is operating is necessary to see ahead clearly. Discerning the origin of any idea, notion, or feeling is the key to accurate prediction.  Tracing each idea to the mode in which we are thinking will develop this ability.  DMP will be the final result. Remember to use only one mode is to have others think for you.  DMP is truly thinking for oneself.

Quote Dr. de Bono.

        The second main purpose of the six thinking hats concept is to allow a switch in thinking.  If a person at a  meeting has been persistently negative, that person can be asked to take off "the black thinking hat."  This signals to the person that he or she is being persistently negative.  The person may also be asked to put on "the yellow thinking hat."  This is a direct request to be positive.  In this way the six hats provide an idiom that is definite without being offensive.  What is most important is that the idiom does not threaten a person's ego of personality.  By turning it into role-playing or even a game, the concept of the hats makes it  possible to request certain types of thinking.  The hats become a sort of short-hand of instruction.

Quote Mr. Hall

     We live surrounded by academic disciplines. All the sciences set forth points and areas concerning the future.  If we have been able to detach ourselves from the narrowness of the views that any specific approach to the future might produce, the special patterns of thought to which Futurlogics ascribes enables us to objectively look at these various allusions.  Any futurist must be able to detach himself from the present and see from another point in space.  This detached, freefloating perspective is necessary to probe the future, and it is the outcome of Futurlogics.  If a futurist cannot free himself from his method of obtaining data, the procedures and logics of the methods will inject themselves into the resulting scenario of the future.

Quote Dr. de Bono.

        The purpose of the six thinking hats is to unscramble thinking so that a thinker is able to use one thinking mode at a time--instead of trying to do everything at once. The best analogy is that of color printing.  Each color is printed separately and in the end they all come together.

Quote Mr. Hall

     The above divisions become symbols and terms of the parametric descriptions of the future that we have referred to as modes.  Modes are the results of cycles--or closed circuit thinking--as in the  see-know, the see-believe.  Very often when we are exposed to new things we interpret them by language we are familiar with, and we are often misled because of the mechanics of the familiar terms.      Futurlogics is the balanced use of the modes which neutralizes the modal distractions as we envision the future.  It becomes the DMP contact to the study of the future.  It points to truth, which is knowledge of the three phases of the temporal environments--the past, present, and future.  Futurlogics is the perfected mode.

Quote Dr. de Bono.

        The six thinking hats method is designed to switch thinking away from the normal argument style to a mapmaking style. This makes thinking a two-stage process.  The first stage is to make the map.  The second stage is to choose a route on the map.  If the map is good enough, the best route will often become obvious. As in the color printing analogy, each of the six hats puts one type of thinking on the map.

Quote Mr. Hall

     Traffic signs indicate road conditions and maps guide us through unknown territories.  So we must use Futurlogics as a guide to direct us toward our objective.  Futurlogics is not the future--it is a means, a guidepost, a map to help us on our way.      We must always be conscious of how the parameters of thinking about the future lead us away from DMP contact with future realities.  DMP is our most intimate contact with the future and to allow any distraction will result in a distorted view of things to come.

Final Differences:

Dr Edward de Bono states that: "The main purpose of thinking is to abolish thinking".

The FUTURLOGICS' attitude is that: The purpose(s) of thinking is/are to discover the unknown and to acquire foreknowledge and to prepare the mind for understanding and all this/these holistically to enhance further thinking. Or, simply the purpose of thinking is to improve the minds' capability of thinking and knowing. Or, even simpler the purpose of thinking is to prepare the mind to learn.

The modes in FUTURLOGICS originate from personal living and experience or orgainic sources such as memory ,senses, imagination, thought, manipulative skills of the hands , expectation. Holistic thinking or DMP is the ideal or synthesis these "natural modes".

The modes in "Six Thinking Hats" originate from a type of group conditioning or learning the rules of a game for social convenience and control . Simplified, modal thinking is "reached for" with analysis as a supervision principle.

The six modes in FUTURLOGICS are the results of six cycles of thinking that are organically produced from common sense. Examples:

• The Absolute Mode originates from the retrospective cycle of memory and thinking.

• The Natural Mode originates from the observational cycle of sensory input and thinking.

• The Imaginary Mode originates from the imaginary cycle of imagination and thinking.

• The Assumptive Mode originates from the faith cycle of belief and thinking.

• The Creative Mode originates from the creative cycle of manufacture and thinking.

• The Model Mode originates from the prospective cycle of forethinking and thinking.

Metacognition is thinking about thinking, but FUTURLOGICS is thinking about forethinking or prospective thinking.

The six modes in "Six Thinking Hats" are artificially assigned and trained into the thinking culture through rules and games. It must be learned through group interaction even though it is claimed that a Hat can be signaled by oneself to use one of the Hats. Actually the artificiality of the Hats is considered a positive feature of the "Six Thinking Hats" System.

Quote " Six Thinking Hats ". < Artificiality from Summary Page 199 >

It is the very artificiality of the hats which is there greatest value. The provide a formality and a convenience for requesting a certain type of thinking either of oneself or of others. The establish rules for the game of thinking. Anyone playing the game will be aware of these rules.

Quote " Six Thinking Hats ". Argument thinking from Summary Page 173

The two and fro of argument style of thinking provides the momentum for the thinking. That is why so many people find it easier to think in a group than on their own. Thinking on one's own has much more need of a Blue Hat structure. The object of the "Hats is to Control groups by signaling the mode and training
to respond to the Blue Hat controls.

Example of a Blue Hat structuring of artificially define "Hats" is as follows:

• The Red Hat is used first to get each persons orientation and perspectives or opinions at the outset to clear the air and see where everyone is coming from emotionally or from an agenda--or to prevent agendas.

• The White Hat used next to get the full information less the emotions. Other rules are set forth and objectivity is now emphasized; perhaps here is where consensus may be derived or determined to launch the next mode.

• The Yellow hat is used now to extend ideas with positive views; old ideas are not defended as with the Black Hat role.

• Now apply the Green Hat to create new concepts or perspectives; this is, "Out of the Box" thinking. This is Dr. Edward deBono Lateral Thinking of fame.

• Perhaps use a "Mixture of the White, Yellow, Green Hat" for more idea generation. (Here is the beginnings of FUTURLOGICS or synthesis of modes toward Holistic Thinking.) The Mixture of the Hats is not really explained in the copy of "Six Thinking Hats" that I have which is the First U. S. edition.

• Yellow Hat is again used for the positive release and protection of "tender ideas". Which could be potential victims of the dreaded Black Hat.

• Black Hat is now unchained to see which ideas can survive it's judgmentalizm even though the ideas the Black Hat rejects should not be rejected or deleted but should be logged as Black Hat rejects for historical reasons and for possible rescue later.

• Then the Green and Yellow Hat gets it's turn to answer the Black Hat dismissals and discounting of value. Again the mysterious "Mixturing".

• Now the Black Hat takes on its other role of pointing to risks, dangers and warnings that fortify the "defense of status quo" by judgments.

• Blue Hat is now used to determine which of the proposed ideas in the controversy of Black and Yellow Hats that are worth the risk and danger or loss.

• Blue Hat is the catch all Hat and How the Mixture Hat are defined.

• And now perhaps the use of Intuitive release of the Red Hat to get a feel for the generated new ideas or appeal and hope.

• Again the Yellow Hat dialogues with the Black Hat to get a work up of any ideas panned out of these interchanges. This could be a full blown argument style of thinking to proof out the resulting ideas of this Hats session.

• Finally the Blue Hat sets out the strategy for thinking about planning and implementation. FUTURLOGICS lives in here as Prospective Thinking skills will thrive here.

Example of a FUTURLOGICS organically defined prospective thinking is as follows:

• Start by reviewing known historical facts, legends, writings on the subject of the Session realizing of course that the past is not history. This is similar to the use of some facets of the Red Hat.

(A History of the past gives meaning and tradition. FUTURLOGICS retrospective cycle generates the Retrospective Mode to produce the Absolute Future or solution. This cycle is very defensive of the Old Ideas and has the effect of volitive restriction and blunts the creative edge. These expressions are usually so called "proven ideas")

• Second take the scientific method and look at the project of the Session with a clinical approach. This is Similar to some facets of the White Hat.

  (Observation gives us sequencial order,clarity, definition and quantification. FUTURLOGICS Observational Cycle generates the Observational Mode to produce the Natural Future or solution. This where we step back and look at the propositions in the neutral form of learning. These are ideas every body can see; or, arrive at consensus. This similar to the Scientific Approach to discovery)

• Third let loose the imagination and project ideas by extended associations. This is similar to some facets of the Yellow Hat.

  (Imagination gives us possibilities and brainstorms. FUTURLOGICS Imagination Cycle generates the Imaginary Mode to produce the Imaginary Future or solution. These are positive extentions or extrapolations and unusual associations. Perhaps thought production that generate ideas for the sake of ideas)

• Forth conduct a "What IF?" session next and extend logically. This similar to some facets of Yellow Hat Thinking but brings in a shade of Green Hat Thinking also.

  (Assumptions gives us movement (food for thought) and continuity in the face of the unknown; in other words at the frontiers. FUTURLOGICS Assumptive Cycle generates the Assumptive Mode to produce the Artificial Future or solution. These are "What If" extentions or extrapolations and Imaginative associations. This is where experiments and risks are suspended to see what really will happen. Proofs can be generated by assuming certain things are true for the sake of continuing the research. This is essentially a "dry lab" of the creative mode. Here is where the hypothesizing takes place.)

• Fifth see what you can make happen or deliberately create now. This is similar to the creative facet of the Green Thinking Hat.

  (Planning and Preparation leverages the making or designing of the future. FUTURLOGICS Creative Cycle generates the Creative Mode to produce the Synthetic Future or solution. This is the "Mixturing of the Hats" so mentioned. This is Synthesis not Analysis. Here is where ideas are reafied.)

• Where is IT all going? Now envision the probable direction the discussion and discoveries will take this Session. This could be forced into the Blue Hats' responsibility; but, This part may be unique to FUTURLOGICS.

  (Predicting and Prospective thinking uses where it is going to go farther. FUTURLOGICS Prospective Cycle generates the Prospective mode to produce the Paradign Future or solution. This is the nurture of the abstract ideas to see ahead. This is Visioning . This is where the ideas are projected up the timeline.)

  The Paradigm Mode should reveal a "Paradigm Shift" as Thomas S. Kuhn called it. If you do not detect any transforming newness that is creative or at least innovative, then repeat cycle/modes streaming from beginning until there is detected at least a mild "paradigm shift". It really does not matter which of the FUTURE(s) have definite shift or a force to obsolete old knowledge.

  At This stage of the Session as many as Six Futures are generated from the cycles and modes of FUTURLOGICS. Now we examine the futures to see the impact the newly generated ideas have on the six streams of thought. The defining streams in future terms cause a GENERALIZATION and/or ABSTRACTION of the streams which aids in synthesis of the streams to two streams.

  This impact synthesis level could be called VISIONING of FUTURES as MODELS.

  TIMELINE CONNECTED: We try to merge the Absolute, Natural, Paraigm Future to the Vision of the new knowledge.

  INTELLIGENCE CONNECTED: We try to merge the Imaginary, Artificial, Synthetic Future to the Vision of the new knowledge.

  DMP central action principle of VISIONING. Remember DMP is cycle free, mode free thinking. Now a free forum discussion is appropriate such as a Delphi Conference.

  This is hat free or mode free thinking to generate a VISION of where it is going.

  (MODAL Thinking is a method of thinking that ignors the other methods and is very focused in using this method exclusively.)

  (MODEL Thinking is a method of thinking that synthesizes the other methods into its method. It is characterized by much unlearning as new things are introduced. and is very open to using this method inclusively.)

  This method can loop through to produce the expanding spiral of thought that is the FUTURLOGICS method/principle.

Summary:

Whereas FUTURLOGICS is organically originated the "Six Thinking Hats" is Group originated.

FUTURLOGICS is "personal think". Once learned it is automatically self enhanced.

"Six Thinking Hats" is "group think". Once learned it is minimally useable as a metacognition technique and requires constant training and is enhance by group practice.

( There is a time to think and there is time to do otherwise. )

( Training the mind to capture and preserve first impressions can be very useful to creativity, insight, intuition. First Impressions, if not protected can be mutated by thinking that does not respect DMP of FUTURLOGICS. )

Again: FUTURLOGICS is both synthetic (Model) and analytic (modal)   where "Six Thinking Hats" is primarily analytic except when the   map and its colors are allowed to come together in a mixture.

BLOOM'S TAXONOMY AND SIX THINKING HATS AND FUTURLOGICS (link here)

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