Re: yes!

On 21/08/2024 9:17 am, john larkin wrote:

On Tue, 20 Aug 2024 15:56:18 -0400, Joe Gwinn <joegwinn@comcast.net>
wrote:
 

On Mon, 19 Aug 2024 19:57:48 -0700, john larkin
<jlarkin_highland_tech> wrote:
>

On Mon, 19 Aug 2024 22:31:53 -0400, "Edward Rawde"
<invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>

"john larkin" <jlarkin_highland_tech> wrote in message news:4mt7cjdnqt4i601lvdsrtivbg4iucgfuj4@4ax.com...

On Mon, 19 Aug 2024 20:48:36 -0400, "Edward Rawde"
<invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>

"john larkin" <jlarkin_highland_tech> wrote in message news:r7m6cjtpei82u2kg6a7g40r07okju99v5n@4ax.com...

On Mon, 19 Aug 2024 15:21:55 +1000, Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org>
wrote:
>

On 19/08/2024 3:26 am, john larkin wrote:

On Sun, 18 Aug 2024 15:33:38 +1000, Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org>
wrote:
>

On 18/08/2024 2:31 am, john larkin wrote:

On Sat, 17 Aug 2024 12:14:51 -0400, "Edward Rawde"
<invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>

"john larkin" <jlarkin_highland_tech> wrote in message news:dta1cj1f3pudq93ard2o2ve4dadero917e@4ax.com...

On Sat, 17 Aug 2024 06:26:27 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
wrote:
>

On a sunny day (Fri, 16 Aug 2024 15:07:52 -0700) it happened john larkin
<jlarkin_highland_tech> wrote in <06jvbjp36khao0m5ot65a1o1krricoasre@4ax.com>:

<snip>

Well, I do much the same - I wake up with a new idea.  And cannot say
how it happened - I slept through it.

 Some people, like us, invent in our sleep. Some famous people invented
while walking.
 I used to think that overnight ideas were delivered in my morning
shower, and they are, but now I believe that ideas happen in a nice
hot shower too, any time of day.

Ideas come from the sub-conscious (if you use Freudian terminology) or our back-ground processing. It pops up into our conscious mind when we aren't distracted by more immediate concerns. For my father that was when he was shaving. You have to devote a lot of conscious though to solving the problem before it can percolate down into your sub-conscious.

To patent something, it is _not_ required that one know how it works,
or even that one's theory be correct.  Many are not. Only the ability
to make it work on request is required.

Too true.

Right. Ultimately, we really don't know how anything works.

But mostly we have pretty good idea, quite good enough for all practical purposes. Most people can explain that idea in terms that other people can understand, if they want to. John Lark may not want to or may not be able to.

Fifty years ago, Jacques Hadamard queried his colleagues (like
Einstein, etc) on where their insights came from - they woke up with
the idea, or it just came to them after intense thinking.
>
<https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691029313/the-mathematicians-mind?srsltid=AfmBOorGBqfWjsV-ccnfGdcrSWWK0XKWZw43dFPWsgape-G7rfI4xCTy>

I suspect that the intense thinking is essential, but it probably doesn't have to happen just before you get the idea. If you've left a question unresolved for years, your sub-conscious can pick up the extra information it needs when it does become available, and serve up the solution when you aren't distracted by more immediate problems.
--
Bill Sloman, Sydney