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The science of having ideas in the shower

nationalgeographic.co.uk

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Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#21

Post by binkHN »

ford wrote: post #6

Is there more research on how boredom relates to creativity in general? I've been wondering recently about how my default in most cases is to look at my phone (reddit, social media, texting). That must detract from my net new ideas. I know many a child driven to weird ideas, fun games, and general creativity from lack of anything else to do. It's probably a spectrum (reading reddit/HN/etc. is likely to introduce new…

> I know many a child driven to weird ideas, fun games, and general creativity from lack of anything else to do.

Unfortunately children are negatively affected by their electronic devices as well.

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#22

Post by meindnoch »

math_dandy wrote: post #2

Anecdotally, Americans tend to shower more often than Europeans. Perhaps this explains why more tech innovation tends to happen in America these days? I suspect a major cause of the shower gap is energy price gap, leading one to conclude that cheap energy increases innovation!

As they say, once you have eliminated all which is impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth!

But perhaps there are still a few more probable hypotheses to test before we settle on your shower theory… Would you agree with that, my friend?

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#23

Post by FlyingSnake »

math_dandy wrote: post #2

Anecdotally, Americans tend to shower more often than Europeans. Perhaps this explains why more tech innovation tends to happen in America these days? I suspect a major cause of the shower gap is energy price gap, leading one to conclude that cheap energy increases innovation!

> I suspect a major cause of the shower gap is energy price gap

What a funny assertion. Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Gulf states etc have bottomless supply of cheap energy, where are their innovations?

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#24

Post by binkHN »

AstixAndBelix wrote: post #13

I personally believe that the concept of shower thoughts is a bit detrimental. They are often talked about as being nice little quirks of our lives, when in fact they could be so much more. I have written a little blog post about it [1] [1] : https://but-her-flies.bearblog.dev/shower-thoughts-arent-rea...

I concur. I sometimes get "shower thoughts" while doing the dishes.

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#25

Post by fnordpiglet »

luxuryballs wrote: post #8

“If you’ve ever emerged from the shower or returned from walking your dog with a clever idea or a solution to a problem you’d been struggling with, it may not be a fluke.” Did we really need someone to tell us this? Do people just assume everything is a fluke until some higher authority tells you otherwise?

That’s just the introduction to frame the topic. The article explains how we now understand the biological mechanics of why. That’s what they pay journalism students to do, otherwise they would be on welfare.

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#26

Post by b3morales »

luxuryballs wrote: post #8

“If you’ve ever emerged from the shower or returned from walking your dog with a clever idea or a solution to a problem you’d been struggling with, it may not be a fluke.” Did we really need someone to tell us this? Do people just assume everything is a fluke until some higher authority tells you otherwise?

I think you're taking one bit of science journalism boilerplate too broadly. Obviously it's not a "fluke" if it happens a lot, to a lot of people, but saying that is just a stock (hackneyed, if you prefer) expression to build up to the explanation.

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#27

Post by b3morales »

tnzk wrote: post #4
math_dandy wrote: post #2

Anecdotally, Americans tend to shower more often than Europeans. Perhaps this explains why more tech innovation tends to happen in America these days? I suspect a major cause of the shower gap is energy price gap, leading one to conclude that cheap energy increases innovation!

It fails to explain why Japanese people who shower literally everyday don't lead innovations...

Don't they? In consumer electronics they certainly did for a good chunk of the past 50-60 years.

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#28

Post by ricardo81 »

luxuryballs wrote: post #8

“If you’ve ever emerged from the shower or returned from walking your dog with a clever idea or a solution to a problem you’d been struggling with, it may not be a fluke.” Did we really need someone to tell us this? Do people just assume everything is a fluke until some higher authority tells you otherwise?

fluke as in chance/luck. Which is pretty much everything without a scientific basis.

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#29

Post by svnt »

fnordpiglet wrote: post #25
luxuryballs wrote: post #8

“If you’ve ever emerged from the shower or returned from walking your dog with a clever idea or a solution to a problem you’d been struggling with, it may not be a fluke.” Did we really need someone to tell us this? Do people just assume everything is a fluke until some higher authority tells you otherwise?

That’s just the introduction to frame the topic. The article explains how we now understand the biological mechanics of why. That’s what they pay journalism students to do, otherwise they would be on welfare.

They are still on welfare.

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#30

Post by DoingIsLearning »

tnzk wrote: post #4
math_dandy wrote: post #2

Anecdotally, Americans tend to shower more often than Europeans. Perhaps this explains why more tech innovation tends to happen in America these days? I suspect a major cause of the shower gap is energy price gap, leading one to conclude that cheap energy increases innovation!

It fails to explain why Japanese people who shower literally everyday don't lead innovations...

In Brazil two showers a day are pretty common.

So access to R&D funding is probably far more relevant for innovation indexes than people's hygiene.

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