Ah, I know! Having lots of ideas. I occasionally have someone say something like “But how could X ever Y?” and I pull out a list from thin air, it’s been fairly impressive. And this power is easy to pass on—some training in improv, working on seeing patterns for a few years, and not getting discouraged if you don’t think of anything at first.
I would be grateful if you could say some more about this, for instance what one could do to train “seeing patterns”.
Seeing patterns means two things. The more mundane thing it means is building a bunch of connections between different concepts, either pairwise or by lumping things into categories. The less mundane thing it means is to see gradients and analogies among multiple things, and to be able to do it on the fly.
The mundane thing is (sensibly) easier to train. You have to establish these connections in the first place, for example by reading “how things work” books, or just by being curious, or by talking with other people about categories. And then you have to practice, which I recommend doing by playing a game. You take a thing, and then you take turns (assume you play with other people) naming other things this thing could be, if you squint your eyes a bit. For example, a tube of lipstick could be a tiny red mirror with a handle, or it could be the latest thing in paintball bullets, or it could be a melted eraser, or it could be a portable snack, or it could be a dotted-line-drawer for apprentice surgeons, or… the beginning of the game is easy, but the trick is knowing how many times to just keep going even after you think you’re done (about 2, in my experience). This is a really good game for car rides. For example that thing with the tarp on top of the other guy’s car could have been a smuggled alligator, or it could have been a heavy-duty tent, or a blue whale condom, or a defective parachute, or an inflatable robot, etc.
Thanks for clarifying. That sounds like a useful game, but I wonder how much you would have to practise it before you saw concrete gains.
I’m very interested in techniques for having more and better ideas, because I think most of the good things I’ve done in my life have been directly due to having a new idea or insight.
A model for winning by rationality is:
Decide on a goal.
Come up with ideas for achieving this goal. (creativity)
Identify the best idea or plan among those you’ve come up with. (epistemic rationality, general prediction ability)
Execute the best plan/idea. (willpower)
If you lack any of these steps you will fail. I’m surprised at how little discussion I’ve seen on LW about coming up with more and better ideas.
I would be grateful if you could say some more about this, for instance what one could do to train “seeing patterns”.
Seeing patterns means two things. The more mundane thing it means is building a bunch of connections between different concepts, either pairwise or by lumping things into categories. The less mundane thing it means is to see gradients and analogies among multiple things, and to be able to do it on the fly.
The mundane thing is (sensibly) easier to train. You have to establish these connections in the first place, for example by reading “how things work” books, or just by being curious, or by talking with other people about categories. And then you have to practice, which I recommend doing by playing a game. You take a thing, and then you take turns (assume you play with other people) naming other things this thing could be, if you squint your eyes a bit. For example, a tube of lipstick could be a tiny red mirror with a handle, or it could be the latest thing in paintball bullets, or it could be a melted eraser, or it could be a portable snack, or it could be a dotted-line-drawer for apprentice surgeons, or… the beginning of the game is easy, but the trick is knowing how many times to just keep going even after you think you’re done (about 2, in my experience). This is a really good game for car rides. For example that thing with the tarp on top of the other guy’s car could have been a smuggled alligator, or it could have been a heavy-duty tent, or a blue whale condom, or a defective parachute, or an inflatable robot, etc.
Thanks for clarifying. That sounds like a useful game, but I wonder how much you would have to practise it before you saw concrete gains.
I’m very interested in techniques for having more and better ideas, because I think most of the good things I’ve done in my life have been directly due to having a new idea or insight.
A model for winning by rationality is:
Decide on a goal.
Come up with ideas for achieving this goal. (creativity)
Identify the best idea or plan among those you’ve come up with. (epistemic rationality, general prediction ability)
Execute the best plan/idea. (willpower)
If you lack any of these steps you will fail. I’m surprised at how little discussion I’ve seen on LW about coming up with more and better ideas.