The Idea About Ideas
iggychaos.blogspot.com
iggychaos.blogspot.com
Summary -
Ideas do not fall into just good or bad.
a) Dating Julia Roberts is a good idea, but its not feasible.
b) A free email address that has no password or registration is a good idea. (read the article if you're curious)
4 types of ideas:
a) "The obvious next" - ideas that follow logically from what's currently existing.
b) "Now we're ready" - ideas that have a certain technology or other requirement before its possible.
c) "infeasible" - ideas that are good but infeasible because technology/society/whatever is required not ready (its not a 'b' idea). Also ideas that have no money making business model fall into this category.
d) luminary ideas - ideas that are unique and original not just to the thinker, but to the rest of the world too. These are rare.
In short, work off of the 'b' and 'c' ideas, since technology is moving so fast. 'a' ideas are risky because you're competing with everyone else and a lot of luck/skill is required, and 'd' is out because lets face it, no one has them. 'c' ideas quickly become 'b' ideas -
"You merely have to act on them first. Given how fast our technology advances, it's a good idea to perpetually reconsider infeasible ideas every now and then. You never know when an infeasible idea might become feasible."
I'd say a lot of this occurs in science fiction and other literature, and these ideas eventually permeate culture and get turned into actual products. E.g. submarines, spaceships, robots.
1) Definitely not the "next obvious step."
2) The theoretical principles of canons and fugues, etc. were all in place in the 18th century, but no one but Beethoven could have made the 5th symphony, or anything close to it.
3) Obviously, nothing to do with infeasibility.
4) Again, not luminary, because no one would ever have though of it. Contemporary musical style would change, and Beethoven's work would never exist.
P.S. And if anyone dare try to say the 5th Symphony wasn't an idea, it's brought a lot more good, happiness (relaxation, concerts, etc.), and wealth (selling records, etc.) than most startup ideas...
Many scientists believe that if Einstein hadn't incorporated gravity into the theory there's a good chance that it would still be undiscovered today.
But aside from that a really worthwhile article.
Actually, no. If you start out with flat spacetime & try to describe massless spin-2 particles, you'll find gravity falls right out of the equations. It's quite elegant, really.
He says that he can't think of any luminary ideas and goes on to say this:
"If we can theorize that if Einstein had never existed it would have been 50 years (or 100 years or whatever you like) before someone else thought it up - we can probably classify it as luminary."
He doesn't say that the idea is luminary, he is simply lacking an example and theorises on the Einstein idea.
What this means is that Hilbert helped elaborate on the theory, and worked out some of the kinks.
Not to dismiss Hilbert, but the idea was Einsteins' and his alone.