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Ask YC: When did you start having interesting ideas?

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Re: Ask YC: When did you start having interesting ideas?

#31

I was about six years old when I remember thinking to myself: I have a lot of great ideas. All I need is an 8 or 10-year old to help me make them cause I'm too young. I'm sure the ideas weren't that great, but the critical thinking is more important.

I remember when I first "discovered" RLE, 8 or 9 years old, sitting in the backseat of my parent's car in this parking lot:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=41.764966,-87.724457&spn=...

Re: Ask YC: When did you start having interesting ideas?

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not really sure what area of research this would fall under. The closest I can think of is "infantile amnesia," although that would be a stretch. As far as I know there is no established way to classify ideas, so that would make this a question not very well-suited for academic research. Actually, one of the reasons why I asked is because I'm interested in looking for patterns in what people consider to be intere…

According to my understanding of Piaget's developmental stages, the earliest a child can have "inventive" thought is in the concrete operational stage. Children enter this stage during school years, but before puberty. It's during this time that children begin to grasp basic scientific concepts like conservation of volume. However, I didn't pay all that much attention in developmental psych, my textbook isn't handy,…

Researchers have found that most of Piaget's milestones actually happen much earlier than he had thought. Basically new methodologies have been invented to simplify the questions so that children can show competence at an earlier age. Before many children had been failing to perform at things they were able to do because the tasks involved ancillary things they were incapable of, for example they relied on background knowledge that wasn't there or unrelated motor skills that hadn't yet developed. I'd be interested in seeing what Piaget's methodology was compared to the current state of the art in terms of measuring inventive ideas.

Re: Ask YC: When did you start having interesting ideas?

#34
I realize it's not the main point of this question, but I don't get the Set Godin's idea. If more people were telecommuting, then the in-person interaction would become more scarce, therefore more demanded, so the expectations for the quality would be lower I would think?

Re: Ask YC: When did you start having interesting ideas?

#35
If you're efficient about coming up with interesting ideas, you'll come up with a lot that are just outside the bounds of what's obvious, given your current knowledgebase. When you're younger, not only is your knowledgebase relatively small, but there have also been a lot of people with very similar knowledgebases before you... the result is that that space is pretty heavily tapped, and most of the "actually interesting" ideas you can have are well known to more knowledgeable folks. Before you learn enough to have an interesting starting point, the odds are against your getting interesting results.

Re: Ask YC: When did you start having interesting ideas?

#36
post #35

If you're efficient about coming up with interesting ideas, you'll come up with a lot that are just outside the bounds of what's obvious, given your current knowledgebase. When you're younger, not only is your knowledgebase relatively small, but there have also been a lot of people with very similar knowledgebases before you... the result is that that space is pretty heavily tapped, and most of the "actually interest…

In other words, there's at least factor beyond your control in having an actually interesting idea: You can't control what's ultimately considered interesting for its time.

Re: Ask YC: When did you start having interesting ideas?

#37
post #4

You can have an interesting idea any time. Problem is you may not even realize that you just had an interesting idea when you had it. The journal is an excellent idea. I write everything down. When I look it over later, I'm usually embarrassed that I could have thought of anything so lame. But every once in a while, there are a few gems in there. I always have pencil and a small notebook next to the bed. The best tim…

Reminds me of something a friend told me today...

The singer for the band, The National, apparently forces himself to write down a new idea (for lyrics) every 45 minutes. He says he only uses about 5% of what he comes up with. Coming up with a lot of crap is a recurring trend for many successful creative types, but you only hear about the 5% that isn't crap.

Re: Ask YC: When did you start having interesting ideas?

#38
For me it's not only interesting when i started having ideas (probably because I can't really remember) but also when I'm having "interesting" ideas...

For me it's mostly when I'm stressed out. For example when I was learning for exams I very often had interesting ideas I started to dissect and analyze. Even though the ideas were interesting and intriguing, I quashed most of them because from a business perspective (and that is my background) I could see the idea prosper. I too write most of my ideas down so I can use them later or use them as inspiration.

Re: Ask YC: When did you start having interesting ideas?

#39

I was about six years old when I remember thinking to myself: I have a lot of great ideas. All I need is an 8 or 10-year old to help me make them cause I'm too young. I'm sure the ideas weren't that great, but the critical thinking is more important.

I remember when I first "discovered" RLE, 8 or 9 years old, sitting in the backseat of my parent's car in this parking lot: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=41.764966,-87.724457&spn=...

What is RLE in this case? Run-length encoding?
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