Semyon D. Savransky: I'm curious to which branch of human activity (like art, business, science, sport, war, religion, etc.) TRIZ belongs to?

John B Opfell: It is clearly a branch of engineering. Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary of the American language says, "engineering...the application of science and mathematics by which the properties of matter and the sources of energy in nature are made useful to man in structures, machines, products, systems and processes." TRIZ is both a system and process in which the energy of the human mind is used much more useful.

James F. Kowalick: A few words about your "question" that is not a question. There is no answer. If a question was raised like: "Into what branch of human activity does TRIZ fit to the closest degree?", this might be a little better stated than your question. But the question would still not be clear. One aspect of the question itself is the assumption that "TRIZ must objectively belong to one thing - e.g., to a 'branch' of human activity." One answer is that it can simply be a matter of "agreement" - as what happens when a statistically adequate number of librarians agrees as a group that they will place a certain word in a certain category. From another point of view, it really doesn't matter where "TRIZ" belongs to. There are very few people who care. Furthermore, from several points of view, it probably makes little difference to which branch of human activity TRIZ 'belongs' - if any. Another question: "Why would one wish to know an answer to this question?" Seriously, I can think of a few "legitimate" reasons, but none of them interest me enough to be further concerned about the "question." Apparently this "question" does stir up something in you, coming as it does from the intellectual, logical part of your brain (and there are other parts of the brain that are just as important, if not more important, for from one viewpoint, TRIZ itself is "non-logical" thinking). A completely different "avenue:" TRIZ belongs to all the branches that you mentioned. It is, in part, an "art," and in part, a "science." True, "died-in-the-wool" scientists would not want to admit TRIZ' being an art. TRIZ is also a business: the "business" of problem-solving, of problem-analysing, of problem-defining, etc. TRIZ is also a "sport" for some users, in the sense of a "relaxing" or "leisure" or "strain-removing" activity. TRIZ is also a war for some: a "war" on a problem, where the problem is the "enemy." TRIZ is also a religion for others: some members of this "religion" will defend the classical practices of the TRIZ religion to their death, just like the knights, under the Crusades, defended the policy and practices of the established Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages, destroying all non-practitioners in their paths. Such practitioners exist in TRIZ as well - stuck as they are in the fixed, static, un-changing practices of official TRIZ-dom (stuck in the psychological inertia of TRIZ practice itself). So, TRIZ is also a religion, and a very powerful one: it has its Grand Savior; it has its saints and its disciples, and its priests! And these people, who are so "stuck" in what they are doing, can not conceive of any "new" religion replacing the old one on the "S-curve of religions." It is interesting to observe how supposedly brilliant "thinkers" can become stuck in their own, muddy footprints. Enough of this "fun" exercise! I hope that these comments provide entertainment to you, as your "question" did for me! Unfortunately, I did not find the question to be "provocative." That may be a matter of opinion!

Alex Zakharov: The counterquestion - to what branch of human activity (like art, business, science, sport, war, religion, etc.) table of multiplication belongs to? It's a good tool and is used at these all branches. TRIZ is a supersuper...system for this table. And for the same reason -- TRIZ is a good tool (as method of solving problem) and belongs to wide range of human activities as art, business, science, sport, war, religion, etc.

John Terninko: Is it lost and needs a home? Hasn't TRIZ been applied to many of your listed activities?

Tamy Shaviv: I think that TRIZ (as SIT) belongs to business and science. You can use it in all human activities because it is "A way of thinking..." but usually we are using it in business.

Kalevi Rantanen: I think TRIZ is a branch of science, as much as, say, chemistry or medicine. There are laws (trends of evolution), concepts, principles and "algorithms" that can be proved empirically. You can test them. They can be confirmed, they can be falsified. Applying TRIZ requires skills and experience as art, training and excercise as sport. Bringing TRIZ into industry is sometimes mental struggle that can be described with military metaphora. But the same one can say of mathematics, physics, chemistry, medical science, etc. So I think in first order TRIZ is a science. I hope that TRIZ will never become so strong and popular that people begin consider it as a religion or an ideology.

Yu.B. Udalov: Intellektual'nyj onanizm = Intellectual masturbation.

Steve Ungvari: TRIZ is a Bi-system of art and science. In the case of some practitioners, it is also a religion.

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Genady Filkovsky: Is "hobby" a legitimate answer? American heritage Dictionary says about hobby: "An activity, as stamp-collecting or gardening, carried on primarily for pleasure; pastime." Even more relevant seems to me it's etymology: "Middle English hobi, small horse." I have a continuation to my answer. Since being a hobby is still a very broad definition, I'd specify the theoretical part of TRIZ as a pseudo-science (you know, alchemy, psycho-analysis, astrology, dialectics) and its practical part as a collecting-classification.

Alexey Borovskikh: HÁÕËÁ = Science