What is the difference between a visonary and a dreamer?

[Lincsong]

So looking back through all the great ideas of the last 150 years. What/how can we define the differences between a visionary and a dreamer? Is there a difference?

 

[carebear]

Visionaries, I think, have dreams that come true.

I also think of a visionary as one who, in some way, makes their vision become a reality or at least moves it along.

Dreamer seems a bit more passive, visionaries are "doers".

 

[Aaron Hats]

I agree. Visionaries make those dreams come true. A dreamer spends his whole life dreaming about what could be and doesn't do anything to make that dream happen.

 

[Lincsong]

Making the Desert Bloom.

It takes determination to make a dream into a reality. A visionary has a dream, focuses upon in and makes it become a workable reality.

It was visionaries who made the desert bloom in Arizona and Southern California.

 

[Tomasso]

It was visionaries who made the desert bloom in Arizona and Southern California.

Today, some would say that the bloom is off these locales.

 

[TM]

Lincsong,

I must disagree with you regarding "the visionaries that made the desert bloom in Southern California". At least in regards to Imperial County.

The dream of irrigating the Colorado Desert in Southern California was first conceived in 1847 by Dr. Oliver M. Wozencroft. He envisioned bringing water to this great desert by diverting water from the Colorado River south of Yuma and running canals through Mexico and then up to California. However, by the definition of visionary as a dreamer who accomplished his/her dream, Wozencraft would be classed as a dreamer. He spent 30 years and his entire fortune pursuing the dream, but failed.

His dream was taken up by Charles Rockwood and the California Development Corporation before the turn of the century. While they did accomplish the dream, they were certainly not visionaries – they were simply real estate swindlers on a grand scale.

Tony

 

[Tourbillion]

The difference is more subtle than that. A dreamer merely dreams, whereas a visionary has foresight.

A visionary need not realize their dream in their lifetime, it is enough to see what can (and will) happen.

The act of making something happen can belong to someone else.

 

[Nick Charles]

$$$$$$$$

 

[carebear]

$$$$$$$$

Wait, I thought that was the difference between being "eccentric" and being "bughouse nuts".

 

[TM]

Tourbillion,

I like your restatement of the definition of Visionary. I think the key is the Visionary is putting the dream in motion, while the Dreamer doesn't do much more than imagine. And so by this definition, Wozencraft is in fact a Visionary.

Tony

 

[Lincsong]

Well, some visionairies dreams don't come to fruitation because of technology or such. But that doesn't diminish their vision. Sure some people take the dreams and turn them into reality, but that shouldn't diminish their visions.

 

[Harp]

Diff

A visionary is a Chicago White Sox fan,
and a dreamer is a Chicago Cubs fan.

 

[Sly]

So looking back through all the great ideas of the last 150 years. What/how can we define the differences between a visionary and a dreamer? Is there a difference?

Visonaries are financially independent and avoid illegal substances.

 

[Tourbillion]

Tourbillion,

I like your restatement of the definition of Visionary. I think the key is the Visionary is putting the dream in motion, while the Dreamer doesn't do much more than imagine. And so by this definition, Wozencraft is in fact a Visionary.

Tony

Thanks, furthermore I would think that if you dreamed something and then made it a reality, that you would be a creator (or artist etc) rather than a visionary.

The architect doesn't build the house, he plans it, and leaves the work to the contractor and builders. I view visionaries as architects, they are the idea men.

It used to be thought that man building a flying machine was an impossible dream, now we have space tourists.

 

[carebear]

Thanks, furthermore I would think that if you dreamed something and then made it a reality, that you would be a creator (or artist etc) rather than a visionary.

The architect doesn't build the house, he plans it, and leaves the work to the contractor and builders. I view visionaries as architects, they are the idea men.

It used to be thought that man building a flying machine was an impossible dream, now we have space tourists.

But the architect doesn't just "visualize" the house, he draws up the plans so the engineer can develop the specs and contractor can build it. He moves his dream toward its creation. There's a lot more than just a vague formless idea going on. He doesn't have to swing a hammer to move it toward completion.

Me thinking about my desired future library is "dreaming", me making notes and sketches of it is "visionary".

You can dream anything, you can only envision what is possible. Flight was possible from the get go, Da Vinci had the basics down and birds proved the theory to the earliest peoples. It took generations of visionaries to refine the idea to bring about its reality.

 

[Tourbillion]

Now I think that we are getting into hair splitting and angels dancing on the top of a pin.

An architect can visualize a great cathedral and draw up plans that will fail utterly, because you can't engineer it--a dome that is too big, walls that will collapse, etc.

Is the architect in my example a dreamer or a visionary?

 

[carebear]

Now I think that we are getting into hair splitting and angels dancing on the top of a pin.

An architect can visualize a great cathedral and draw up plans that will fail utterly, because you can't engineer it--a dome that is too big, walls that will collapse, etc.

Is the architect in my example a dreamer or a visionary?

Visionary, because an engineer can take the drawings and work out the blueprints. Plus, most architects do draw the possible, they have the training for that. The intent and potential to move forward is there in their plan.

Me drawing a cathedral I'd push down towards the "dreamer" end of the scale.

But I agree its a fine line.

I guess my definition of "dreamer" is one who never takes an idea beyond the initial thought.

 

[Lincsong]

When The Ford Motor Co. was working on it's first V-8 in the late '20s Henry Ford envisioned a one piece design. All the cylinders cast in one block. His engineers said it couldn't be done. Henry Ford told them it WOULD be done. And they were not to come to him until the design was as he wanted. It was completed in under two years. Visionary? Dreamer? or Stubborn?

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Surely a visionary is simply a past tense dreamer. Though present tense dreamers do not all become past tense dreamers (visionaries), all visionaries (past tense dreamers) were at some point present tense dreamers (future tense visionaries?).

bk

 

[carebear]

So the end justifies the dreams?

This is a sticky question and everyone has good, defensible positions.

Nice thinking thread.