
Oblique Strategies - tomasreimers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_Strategies
======
BurritoAlPastor
A couple years ago, I reformatted these for use with the unix "fortune"
utility, in case you need oblique strategies on the command line. (I sure do.)
[https://github.com/threemachines/obliqueMOTD](https://github.com/threemachines/obliqueMOTD)

~~~
justinator
Nice. I used to run a mailing list that would just send one every day.

------
dhotson
I really liked this version "Oblique Strategies: Prompts for Programmers"
especially for when you're stuck on something.

[https://kevinlawler.com/prompts](https://kevinlawler.com/prompts)

------
teej
Here’s some photos of my personal deck, which I have owned for 10 years.
[https://imgur.com/a/vTNsN5b](https://imgur.com/a/vTNsN5b)

~~~
KTallguy
I have my own deck too. I really enjoy displaying a new card every week on my
desk. My friend and I even devised a little ritual when we draw cards. All
hail the god of ambient, Brian Eno.

------
c3534l
Its a really cool idea and I think its helpful. However, I've unfortunately
realized that I don't really need that kind of creativity in anything I do. I
need insight and understanding, I need to actually do the things I want to do,
and I need to research solutions, but very rarely do I actually need to be
creative in the sense of coming up with completely new ideas to get past a
creative block. It was kind of a sad realization.

~~~
crazygringo
Yes. Sadly, the kind of help one needs in creative fields is rarely the kind
of help one needs in analytic fields.

I've done a lot of programming, and also quite a bit of acting.

The types of thinking "oblique strategies" suggest can be amazing for figuring
out a new different way to act a scene -- an absolute goldmine. But they're of
absolutely zero use in programming.

Similarly, the kind of logical and analytical thinking that helps in
programming... seems to be purely harmful in acting.

It actually took me quite a long time to realize how fundamentally different
the kind of thinking needed for creative vs. analytical tasks is. At least for
me, there is almost _zero_ useful transference. If anything, being good at one
_interferes_ with the other, until you learn to keep the skills separate.

------
samplenoise
A Twitter bot that generates new ones using GPT-2:

[https://mobile.twitter.com/infinite_eno](https://mobile.twitter.com/infinite_eno).

Coincidentally I just revived and tweaked it a bit yesterday, results should
be a better from here on. Tweets more or less daily.

~~~
DonHopkins
That's so fitting!

Brian Eno and Will Wright discussed generative systems at a Long Now
Foundation seminar in 2006:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfc-
DQorohc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfc-DQorohc)

Brian Eno and Danny Hillis discussed "The Long Now, Now" at a Long Now
Foundation seminar in 2010:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvmW4hyccBg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvmW4hyccBg)

Brian Eno, Steward Brand, and Alexander Rose discuss "Long Finance" at a Long
Now Foundation seminar in 2010:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31wDsZtKYMc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31wDsZtKYMc)

------
gdubs
If this is your first introduction to Brian Eno, do yourself a favor and look
into his discography. David Bowie’s “Low” is one of my favorite albums of all
time (a collaboration with Eno and Tony Visconti. Side point: Visconti created
one of the most interesting snare drum sounds of all time on that album.) His
solo albums — “Another Green World”, etc — are also amazing.

~~~
pengstrom
His "Music for Airports" is beautifully serene.

~~~
louthy
Seconded, my personal favourite. I remember when I first discovered it and
even the idea and concept blew me away.

Create your own with the Brian Eno Bloom app too :)

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGwrUGu1V1k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGwrUGu1V1k)

------
vmurthy
I've enjoyed Innovative Whackpack and the series [0]. While I can't say it has
given me any "breakthroughs", it is a fun exercise to do when you are
otherwise stressed out :)

[0] [https://www.amazon.com/Innovative-Whack-Pack-Roger-
Oech/dp/1...](https://www.amazon.com/Innovative-Whack-Pack-Roger-
Oech/dp/157281442X)

~~~
tomasreimers
I do wonder to what degree these methods promote creativity just by breaking
you out of your normal thought cycles (which may be stuck in a nonproductive
spinloop)

------
abetusk
Does anyone know of anything similar that's public domain? I'm a little
surprised that they're included in gnu/linix utilities as they're copyright
Eno and Schmidt.

The default is, of course, Tarot card readings which has a nicely formatted
text and some analysis in the dariusk/corpora repo [1]. It'd be nice to have
something similar so others can play around with it without fear of copyright
infringement.

[1]
[https://github.com/dariusk/corpora/blob/master/data/divinati...](https://github.com/dariusk/corpora/blob/master/data/divination/tarot_interpretations.json)

~~~
Arkdy
Years ago I made an android/react-native tarot app that uses this source.

It picks a card based on the recorded time on-press-up as well as the current
accelerometer reading.

Demo: [https://imgur.com/gallery/1UTO0Fe](https://imgur.com/gallery/1UTO0Fe)

I've used it for many bugs while programming. I find that the little bit of
insight/encouragement goes a long way.

------
resu_nimda
I always liked the scene featuring Oblique Strategies in Richard Linklater's
_Slacker_ :

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWBS0dTpWUM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWBS0dTpWUM)

------
irq
I’m a big fan of Oblique Strategies, perhaps too big a fan, and I have what is
perhaps the most rare edition of them all: the special edition Peter Norton
(of Norton Utilities fame) had made as a gift for his friends in 1996. It was
never available for purchase but I managed to find one on eBay a few years
ago.

It has a very unique case made out of Dupont Corion, a material I’ve never
seen anywhere else in my life. It feels and looks like white marble but is
actually a form of plastic. Some of the cards have been redesigned in
collaboration with Peter Norton and Brian Eno, and there’s a unique intro card
too.

Details on the Peter Norton special edition:
[http://www.rtqe.net/ObliqueStrategies/Edition4.html](http://www.rtqe.net/ObliqueStrategies/Edition4.html)

Took some pics just now:

Case: [https://i.imgur.com/7xJcUPP.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/7xJcUPP.jpg)

Special Peter Norton card here:
[https://i.imgur.com/6vtjdGe.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/6vtjdGe.jpg)

Full gallery here:
[https://imgur.com/gallery/qhEQLTo](https://imgur.com/gallery/qhEQLTo)

~~~
Cryptid
You may mean _Corian_ [1], which is a countertop surface[2]

1: [https://www.corian.com/](https://www.corian.com/) 2:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corian)

------
jacknews
It's definitely nice to have the actual cards, though they're quite expensive.

But you can get a feel for the idea online, eg
[https://www.joshharrison.net/oblique-
strategies/](https://www.joshharrison.net/oblique-strategies/)

This site used to have some really funky color combinations that were
inspiring all on their won, but unfortunately it's a little bland now.

~~~
billman
I had a hard time buying the cards at first. I think this was due to the fact
that creativity is hard to put a value on. I ended up buying two packs (I gave
one as a gift), and I can honestly say that I have used them hundreds of
times. I think the price of the pack actually forces you to get your money's
worth out of it. Being creative in your life is one of the best investments
you can make.

~~~
wenc
Just curious: can you recount a time when a card has broken you out of an idea
deadlock in a real life situation?

I can definitely see how this could work (I've used writing prompts in the
past and they've helped). Just wondered if there were examples outside of the
writing world.

------
jeffchien
The Omnibus podcast had a great episode about it:
[https://www.omnibusproject.com/194](https://www.omnibusproject.com/194)

------
galaxyLogic
Several years ago I gave myself this rule: Whenever you have to stop because
of a red traffic light, you must switch your thoughts and think exactly the
opposite of what you were thinking when you were about to cross the street.

~~~
kzrdude
What's your result with this idea?

~~~
galaxyLogic
I believe it calms me down a bit. I'm often quite incensed about things.
Trying to think the opposite allows me to see things from another, or somebody
else's viewpoint.

Also, I might get incensed by just the fact that I have to wait for traffic-
lights to change! So having a mental task to perform at that time seems to
help. It feels more like an opportunity then than obstacle.

I don't do it much these days but now that I read about Eno's oblique
strategies maybe I'll give this some more attention :-)

~~~
kzrdude
Hah, interesting. I'll try this, if I remember, but I don't think I have that
kind of temperament that you have.

------
meheleventyone
Along these lines I really like Jesse Schell's Deck of Lenses. In some ways
they are much more useful than the original book.

[https://www.amazon.com/Art-Game-Design-Lenses-
Second/dp/0692...](https://www.amazon.com/Art-Game-Design-Lenses-
Second/dp/0692288872/)

They're a bit more concrete than Oblique Strategies which makes them a bit
more useful as a tool rather than just a prompt or something to think on.

------
wallstprog
Interestingly, Eno composed the startup sound for Win95:
[http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2015/08/24/the-coolest-
fea...](http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2015/08/24/the-coolest-feature-of-
windows-95-was-created-by-brian-eno-on-a-mac/)

Even more interesting is that Robert Fripp (a frequent Eno collaborator)
composed the startup sound for Windows Vista:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-LYZt2jisE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-LYZt2jisE)

------
troughway
Semi off-topic, but I've always wondered if Autechre's Tri Repetae album was
named after one of the oblique strategies. The title translates to "Try
Repeating", I believe.

~~~
LeoPanthera
Tri Repetae is Latin for "three repeats".

------
zzkt
...and the emacs edition. [https://github.com/zzkt/oblique-
strategies](https://github.com/zzkt/oblique-strategies)

------
lwigo
I have the box of these received as a gift sitting on my desk!

~~~
teej
My oblique strategies deck is my most prized desk doodad. I don’t reach for it
often but I never regret when I do.

------
jccc
A similarly awesome--and much, much less expensive--deck of cards focused on
writing by the screenwriter John August (Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory, Corpse Bride, Frankenweenie):

[https://www.writeremergency.com/](https://www.writeremergency.com/)

(Years before they made this, I was briefly acquainted with one of the
creators not named John August.)

------
bbx
Slightly off topic: Phoenix used these strategies for their Grammy-winning
album “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix”. Also, MGMT mentions “ The wisdom of oblique
stratagems“ (a play on word) in their aptly-named song “Brian Eno”.

For a long time I’ve thought of creating my own version of the deck. I’ve
heard it can be used punctually to get out of a dead end, or from the very
start through the whole creative process.

------
motohagiography
Was not aware of these before. It reminds me of a more functional version of
Jenny Holzer's "Truisms."
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truisms_(Jenny_Holzer)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truisms_\(Jenny_Holzer\))

Where Holzer's statements can be used to explain, Eno's are to resolve.

------
lukko
I made an animation last year using text from the cards:

[https://www.lukehale.com/oblique-
strategies](https://www.lukehale.com/oblique-strategies)

It was mainly an experiment to see how changing character spacing could create
different forms, and then loosely relating those forms back to the prompts.

------
pavlov
Brian Eno’s Twitter account posts one of these strategy cards every day:

[https://twitter.com/dark_shark/status/1305296263710011392?s=...](https://twitter.com/dark_shark/status/1305296263710011392?s=21)

------
pfarrell
I'll delete this post if my home server can't handle it, but I created a
personal software design version of this ages back. Click/touch to deal a new
answer.

[https://patf.net/obst](https://patf.net/obst)

------
vanni
Somewhat relevant:

[https://intuiti.it/](https://intuiti.it/)

A tool for Creativity born in the Polytechnic University of Milan. A synthesis
of Design, Tarot and Gestalt Psychology.

------
lukeh
I did see the original cards once, that was pretty cool. :)

~~~
Wistar
I have an original deck which was given to me in 1984 by a close friend, a
recording engineer who had worked with Brian Eno. He'd had tgem for seversl
years before he gave them yo me. I should probably figure out what box in
which I have them stored away.

~~~
bbx
I’d be nice to see a picture of an original deck, especially from Brian Eno.
Also, I believe the list of messages has changed over the years so it’s be
interesting to see which list you have.

~~~
Wistar
If I ever find them, I will photograph them. I do know that I made the mistake
of writing my name on the exterior of the box in metallic gold Sharpie—an
idiotic thing to do and that I immediately regretted.

------
srtjstjsj
Oblique Strategies is the "Mother of all Content Blog Topics"

~~~
tomasreimers
I feel I'm missing a reference - how do you mean?

------
billman
Allow an easement (an easement is the abandonment of a structure)

------
coronadisaster
Looks like there are a few decks available on eBay

