Perspective is Worth 40 IQ Points.

I first heard David Sibbet utter these words about ten years ago.

Over the past decade I have come to appreciate the wisdom they contain.

Sometimes a shift of only a few degrees in perspective can literally make things jump out at you that were previously invisible or non-sensical.

There is a new breed of sidewalk artist these days, best embodied by Julian Beever and Kurt Wenner.

Their work demonstrates clearly how a shift in perspective can transform some colored lines on a sidewalk into doorways of imagination.

Have a look:

 

Cool art to be sure, but does it looking at it increase our IQ by 40 points? Hard to say.

But at this year’s TED conference David Sibbet and a few collaborators do make a strong case for the power of perspective to make us more intelligent.