Why does it take a crazy person to change the world?

That is the driving question for our current humanities project: Cray Cray Yay Yay. This is a reasonably long project that involves a field study to Seattle. We would explore individuals who changed the world with their “crazy” ideas.

What kind of person does it take to change the world? According to Apple’s Crazy Ones Campaign: “…the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” (Apple) But what does “crazy” mean, and why does it take a crazy person to change the world? Impactful changes are made by people who explore ideas of a different future that are ignored by others.

Bill Gates and Paul Allen put in the work to personal computers that anyone could use. Before Microsoft, computers were mostly used by businesses and were not readily available for personal use. Microsoft saw a world where everyone could easily access a computer. Computers are a very big part of the world and they have evolved to a point where everyone has a little computer on them at all times. If Microsoft did not dedicate themselves to their work in changing the way we look at computers, we would be looking at a very different reality. Microsoft had this overlooked idea and became massively successful because of it.

Microsoft came up with an idea that ended up being very successful. On the other hand, Flying had been explored for a very long time but was only made possible with new, crazy ideas. Flying is one of the craziest ideas that has ever been explored. Flying allows us to eat new foods, receive mail faster, and visit new places with ease. All of the early pioneers of flight including the Wright Brothers took the crazy idea of flying and made it a reality. Flight was an idea for a very long time but only the Wright Brothers found the idea that became the basis for flight. Thanks to the ideas of the wright brothers, many other innovators were able to build on the concept and revolutionize the way that we travel.

The Climate Pledge Arena is a culmination of many crazy ideas, all working together to create something truly inspiring. Arenas produce incredible amounts of waste and pollution. The founders of the Climate Pledge arena had the crazy idea to create an arena without carbon emissions and with minimal waste. This seems like an impossible task, but with many dedicated individuals involved and many new innovative techniques, they were able to turn this wild vision into a reality. This idea was executed with one of the best arenas around the world. Many new and crazy ideas were used in the creation of the arena, many of which had not been explored before.

As somebody who is still figuring out what I want to do to make an impact, I am incredibly inspired by these people. Their dedication, perseverance, and out of the box thinking really makes me want to pursue my goals. In the future, I would like to take a more crazy approach to my thinking. When pursuing my goals, I will try new and inventive ideas that might just have been ignored by others.

This project isn’t over yet. We still have a Pecha Kucha night planned in which we will work in groups to answer the driving question. Keep an eye out for my final blog post to see the truth about why it takes a crazy person to change the world.