In class, the teacher asked, "What happens when the snow melts?" A student writes "water" on the blackboard, and B student writes "spring". What a divergent thinking! Compared with classmate A, classmate B's answer is much better. He didn't use the well-known answer "water", but used his brains and deliberately innovated to get the novel answer "spring" from the natural phenomenon of melting snow. What reason can we deny such an answer?

From this, I thought of the idiom "whimsical". Wonderful, which means that this idea is very bizarre and derogatory. But in a sense, "fantasy is the source of knowledge evolution" (Einstein's language), which is the source of invention and creation. When we talk about whimsy, we mean to dare to doubt others' unknowns, to find a new way, and to explore and innovate in a unique way. Kant said, "Originality must be the basic feature of genius". Blake also said, "The way to break away from convention leads to the hall of wisdom". Obviously, it is worthy of recognition to dare to "put yourself in other's shoes".

Without "whimsy", how can there be a "groundbreaking" initiative? Throughout the invention and creation of ancient and modern China and foreign countries, this is the case. How could there be the invention of paper if the words were not "please" from heavy bamboo pieces to light things? Without the "fantasy" of displaying images on the screen, how could Baird have made the first TV set? Similarly, if there is no "fantasy" of flying in the sky, the Wright brothers' plane will never get to the sky! It can be said that the development of society and the progress of mankind are all based on whimsy.

Dare not or can't be whimsical, what will the scene be like? According to some statistics, among the 148 people mentioned in Biography of Famous Foreign Writers (I), only 12 people have studied in the literature department of the university. Of the 400 new scientific and technological talents in China in recent years, only 43% have studied in universities, and similar phenomena are common at home and abroad. Einstein once asked a thought-provoking question about this phenomenon: Why are some important scientific ideas often put forward by people who have not received any systematic education? "In my opinion, I'm afraid one of the important reasons is that people who have received systematic education tend to be superstitious about authority, and their way of thinking is often bound by traditional thinking patterns, so they can't or dare to' empathize'; Those who have not received systematic education can explore and innovate boldly because of few restrictions in their minds, so it is easy to "fantasize" and get "open-minded" pioneering work. From this perspective, we dare not "fantasize". How slim is the hope of making an invention!

Nowadays, the wave of reform is impacting ancient China. China's great cause of the four modernizations needs people who dare to be whimsical, break the old rules and customs and have pioneering spirit. No matter whether you are engaged in scientific research or social work, you should dare to forge ahead and be whimsical. But how can we cultivate people with whimsical spirit? Take school education as an example. As a teacher, we should abolish the old teaching methods of "cramming" and "cramming", don't just tell students the answer is "water", don't kill them with a stick without asking different answers, and use our own understanding to restrain them; On the contrary, we should encourage those students who are curious and can ask novel questions, and guide them to think positively and seek novelty and difference: as students, we should be willing to use our brains, dare to question, and not be superstitious about books and teachers.

Lenin said that whimsy is an extremely valuable quality. I hope that more and more scientific workers will be brave in whimsy and forge ahead.