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Cultivating a state of mind where new ideas are born (2023)

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Re: Cultivating a state of mind where new ideas are born (2023)

#61

Post by Xcelerate »

pendenthistory wrote: post #37

The "new ideas are fragile" is certainly true. I'm struggling with something I'm building which I think is extremely cool but technically difficult, but which if based on the reaction of friends and family I'd abandoned long ago. Only after having worked on it for 2 years and really got it working technically did I see a small spark in my dad's eyes as he said "oh, you can make MONEY off of this?". I feel like I have…

> I noticed some people I just cannot share ideas with. They're in the habit of shooting down anything, and they would have found 100 reasons that any famous company or product would have failed

You’re on the wrong message board then haha

Re: Cultivating a state of mind where new ideas are born (2023)

#63

Post by the__alchemist »

#1: Fantastic article. #2: I wonder if, (Overly reductionist take on a nuanced and carefully composed article...) a key element, in addition to the solitude central requirement. (Note: Must it be during youth? That was a trend observed in the article. Brain plasticity, habits etc. And does this mean truly being alone and free from distractions, or just away from negative nancies, bosses, and similar arechetypes?) It must be balanced with the ability to collaborate with the right people. (Or the sort mentioned in the article)

Both in balance. Freedom to work out the ideas in whatever direction you want, "It's been done before"; "this won't work", "This is bad for your career" aside, along with smart, open, supportive people who you can exchange ideas with and collaborate on.

You will note that almost all the mathematical, and renowned natural sciences people of history and contemporary took traditional education paths, i.e. phds at research universities. Hmm.

Re: Cultivating a state of mind where new ideas are born (2023)

#64

Post by joshdavham »

pendenthistory wrote: post #37

The "new ideas are fragile" is certainly true. I'm struggling with something I'm building which I think is extremely cool but technically difficult, but which if based on the reaction of friends and family I'd abandoned long ago. Only after having worked on it for 2 years and really got it working technically did I see a small spark in my dad's eyes as he said "oh, you can make MONEY off of this?". I feel like I have…

I’ve known about the “new ideas are fragile” concept for a while and it’s why I generally will never criticize someone’s early work or ideas, but rather try to hype them up. Because of this, technical people with new ideas and projects have been more likely to come to me early on when they wanna show what they’ve been working on. Admittedly, I actually do think a lot of the ideas I’m presented with are bad, but a smart person starting with a seemingly bad idea may still end up somewhere very interesting. Never be the shooter down of new ideas.

Re: Cultivating a state of mind where new ideas are born (2023)

#65

Post by somenameforme »

pendenthistory wrote: post #37

The "new ideas are fragile" is certainly true. I'm struggling with something I'm building which I think is extremely cool but technically difficult, but which if based on the reaction of friends and family I'd abandoned long ago. Only after having worked on it for 2 years and really got it working technically did I see a small spark in my dad's eyes as he said "oh, you can make MONEY off of this?". I feel like I have…

I'd consider yourself blessed to be surrounded by cynics. I've always found myself with the opposite scenario where people are overly kind even when I specifically ask them not to be. If you're reasonably objective, I think you can tell if a criticism is garbage or warranted. But if whatever you're making is just the greatest thing since sliced bread then the feedback is completely useless.

Re: Cultivating a state of mind where new ideas are born (2023)

#68

Post by Espressosaurus »

energy123 wrote: post #30
Karrot_Kream wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought Grothendieck's "example" was a good one. It's not that the academic environment stymied him, it's that he built up a practice of solitary creativity that helped him take inputs from his surroundings and fold them into his own framework. Both the solitary practice and the communication with fellow leading mathematicians was essential for his growth and output. I think the point the post was trying to make wa…

Other examples like Grothendieck: Wiles (Fermat), Perelman (Poincare), Newton (calculus), Ramanujan. > Spend too little time and you toil away in a cave, at best reinventing things that were invented already without your knowledge. Grothendieck disputes this point. He reinvented the wheel many times when he was 17-20 years old, but believes it was training for accessing the required cognitive spaces. He says: A few y…

I think the parent's point (and perhaps the article author's point) is that he didn't spend his entire time there. He spent long enough, but not too long before he connected with the existing body of work, but now with a way to bring his own creativity into it.

Re: Cultivating a state of mind where new ideas are born (2023)

#69

Post by Beestie »

New ideas aren't fragile. The folks who come up with them need to have the conviction and strength and indifference to peer disapproval to nurture and cultivate them. If a creator finds that easier in isolation then great. But isolation is not a pre-requisite. Some outlandish ideas spring out of interaction with others (peers, skeptics, laypersons, etc.). Isolation has its place and its function but, in itself, it is neither a nursery nor a cemetery.

Re: Cultivating a state of mind where new ideas are born (2023)

#70

Post by rrrrrrrrrrrryan »

pendenthistory wrote: post #37

The "new ideas are fragile" is certainly true. I'm struggling with something I'm building which I think is extremely cool but technically difficult, but which if based on the reaction of friends and family I'd abandoned long ago. Only after having worked on it for 2 years and really got it working technically did I see a small spark in my dad's eyes as he said "oh, you can make MONEY off of this?". I feel like I have…

I'm similar to you in that encouragement and external valuation goes a long way for me, but I've found that all successful business-minded entrepreneurial types really love playing the game where they bounce ideas off each other and try to shoot each other's ideas down.

When they pitch a new idea to family and friends they get pats on the head and it doesn't materially help them at all, but when someone says "that'll never work" they get excited and their ears perk up, because that new perspective could save them a ton of money going down a wrong path.

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