Ask HN: How do you search for revolutionary ideas?

12 points by pytel 6y ago ↗ HN

I feel like a lot of the new products and research interests are just re-hashes, new implementations and domain applications of existing ideas. This is many times brought up in the computer science world as well, e.g. Slack (IRC was popular way before), Docker (containarization was a concept way before).

I play with the idea that such improvements keep us from truly advancing. In my book, a revolutionary advancement is for example going from steam era to electricity era.

I would love to read and discuss such revolutionary ideas around us. Is browsing the arxiv the way to go?

3 comments

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techer 6y ago ↗

Connections is a 10-episode documentary television series and 1978 book (Connections, based on the series) created, written, and presented by science historian James Burke.

pytel 6y ago ↗

Thanks a lot for the tip. I will check the series out. It's always great to discover those hidden program gems the BBC has produced in the past.

I believe it is important to view the revolutions through the eyes of the contemporaries. Then, we might find a more fitting lessons for our current search.

rl3 6y ago ↗

Picture how you want the world to be. Work backwards from there.

Unsure what you want it to be, or can't picture it? Think about existing things we have today. Break those things down to the concepts or dynamics that underly them. Recombine in weird ways for the hell of it, or merely as desired.

Is there a missing component required to realize the rearranged puzzle? Maybe that's your revolutionary idea.