Inspiration, Ideation & Copying

[ElvisMom]

From a different perspective -

Over the weekend I watched a student struggle to set up a homework problem from his trig class; he just couldn't figure it out. He went back and re-read the problem and all of sudden said "Wait, we did a problem just like this in physics!" and started erasing. After that he was done with his homework very quickly and headed off to the Bot Shop.

Love it when that happens!

[JVN]

Originally Posted by Ivan Malik

This isn't a quote from James Webb Young this is a paraphrase of a quote from Vilfredo Pareto that was misused by James Webb Young when talking about something very very far from the way you are using it. You can't take Pareto's theory about the circulation of elites, dust it off twice and apply it to innovation in general, it just doesn't work. Especially considering Pareto basically just paraphrased Marx and renamed some things. This quote, when taken in its original context makes absolutely no sense with the subject being discussed. This is a case of a secondary source cobbling together something and then a third source cobbling it again.

Edit: The irony of this is that Pareto's circulation of elites actually applies to the situation, but not in the way you are using it.

Ivan,
Thank you for your comments, and for keeping me honest. I'll admit to not be familiar with the original source material, or the out of context usage by Young. I've asked a CD moderator to edit my initial post accordingly.

I intend to read up on the original context based on your comments, but the quote itself (perhaps only when taken out of context) simply seeded a new train of thought in my mind. This train of thought is what I posted here on Saturday, and has started what I believe to be an interesting and productive discussion.

I'm not trying to attribute any of my thoughts to Young, Pareto, or Marx in this case, but merely was trying to provide correct attribution to the quote which I read (in a fourth completely unrelated and un-cited context) which got me thinking about ideation within FRC.

This entire discussion seems a little too meta to be believed.

-John

[MathMaven]

you may want to acknowledge (at least to yourself) that we get ideas from all over the place, and it probably is more influenced by outside factors than you realize.

I think good ideas come from being in the proper mindset for making good ideas. If you've mentally prepared properly, a supposedly "brilliant" idea you created would have struck you as simply the "right" one, or even just a "good" one, when you made it.

[Mark Sheridan]

Originally Posted by JVN

I intend to read up on the original context based on your comments, but the quote itself (perhaps only when taken out of context) simply seeded a new train of thought in my mind. This train of thought is what I posted here on Saturday, and has started what I believe to be an interesting and productive discussion.

In the context of discussion of inspiration, this is a perfect case demonstrating how inspiration can come from anywhere.

You read a passage and it inspires greater meaning. I am reading The Adventure of Tom Sawyer and the chapter where tom has to paint a fence has inspired several thoughts about my career aspirations.

In the spirit of your original post, there is something wonderful about forging new connections with inspiration.