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NL888 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Does "on the fly" here mean "in a hurry"?
Context:
About 50,000 years ago we started to mash up incompatible concepts – and everything from science to fashion is the result
THERE are many things that humans can't do. We can't run like cheetahs, fly like eagles or echolocate insects like bats. But the human contribution to the miracle of life is obvious: we are the origin of new ideas.
We hit upon new ideas, lots of them, on the fly, all the time. They arise constantly in our minds, and sometimes tumble out to influence other minds and change the world.
How do we do it? How does our thinking leap beyond our existing knowledge to make new ideas? The answer is that we blend multiple ideas that are already in our minds, and these blends contain new ideas that didn't exist before.
About 50,000 years ago we started to mash up incompatible concepts – and everything from science to fashion is the result
THERE are many things that humans can't do. We can't run like cheetahs, fly like eagles or echolocate insects like bats. But the human contribution to the miracle of life is obvious: we are the origin of new ideas.
We hit upon new ideas, lots of them, on the fly, all the time. They arise constantly in our minds, and sometimes tumble out to influence other minds and change the world.
How do we do it? How does our thinking leap beyond our existing knowledge to make new ideas? The answer is that we blend multiple ideas that are already in our minds, and these blends contain new ideas that didn't exist before.
Top answer
No, it means spontaneously, off the cuff.
- No, it means spontaneously, off the cuff.
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