A Light Brainstorm

[PixyMisa]

The thing is, you will get a far better understanding of the principles involved by spending an hour reading about the Michelson-Morley experiment than by spending a year on this "brainstorming".

Brainstorming is only useful if you already have a good understanding of what works and what doesn't, and want to move forward from there.

 

[Soapy Sam]

The thing is, you will get a far better understanding of the principles involved by spending an hour reading about the Michelson-Morley experiment than by spending a year on this "brainstorming".

Oh, agreed. But is that what he's trying to do, I wonder? I'd call what ynot describes "recreational speculation" rather than "brainstorming", which I think of as lateral thinking with a goal in mind, thinking outside the box to ensure we miss none of the good stuff at the edges. The daft stuff is usually self evident, butcan suggest a less improbable possibility that narrower focus would have missed.

Brainstorming is only useful if you already have a good understanding of what works and what doesn't, and want to move forward from there.

"Chance favours the prepared mind", in other words. Who said that? Lamb?

ETA Louis Pasteur. One who knew. Thank you, Google.

 

[PixyMisa]

Well, when he says

I have a workshop full of invention prototypes that I started the patent process for, only to find that someone had already thought of it 100 plus years ago, so this doesn't surprise me.

It does sound as if he makes rather a habit of this.