Comments on: Selling Fake Wishbones http://www.nilkanth.com/2009/07/09/selling-fake-wishbones/ on the Philosophy of Technology Mon, 22 Mar 2010 04:48:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Ashutosh http://www.nilkanth.com/2009/07/09/selling-fake-wishbones/comment-page-1/#comment-77637 Ashutosh Fri, 10 Jul 2009 06:31:26 +0000 http://www.nilkanth.com/?p=1474#comment-77637 Thanks for your comment James. I completely agree that generating ideas is a creative process, and a beautiful one I must add. But an idea can only be validated through execution. There's only a certain bit of pre-filtration we can perform before narrowing down to the most feasible set of ideas, but the actual test of an idea is in its execution. What good is an idea, if it's never executed? More so because the execution of a poor idea trains us to develop better ideas. I feel, most ideas never get executed because subconsciously they are not important (subjective) to us. Thanks for your comment James.

I completely agree that generating ideas is a creative process, and a beautiful one I must add. But an idea can only be validated through execution. There’s only a certain bit of pre-filtration we can perform before narrowing down to the most feasible set of ideas, but the actual test of an idea is in its execution. What good is an idea, if it’s never executed? More so because the execution of a poor idea trains us to develop better ideas.

I feel, most ideas never get executed because subconsciously they are not important (subjective) to us.

]]> By: James http://www.nilkanth.com/2009/07/09/selling-fake-wishbones/comment-page-1/#comment-77636 James Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:14:19 +0000 http://www.nilkanth.com/?p=1474#comment-77636 > But ironically, a lot of ideas people have are like > wishbones. They are useless without execution. Ideas are > more or less a multiplier. A mediocre idea with decent > execution is far, far more valuable than a brilliant idea > with no execution. Be it an amateur or a professional, it > all comes down to execution. The rest is all talk, and > talk is cheap. In some ways, yes, but as a general point about ideas, I don't agree. Developing ideas is part of the creative process. Generally speaking, you have to develop a lot of ideas in order to develop some good ones. So ideas can have value as stepping stones. And executing mediocre ideas can waste time. It can be better to hold off. More than just wasting time, it can be a form of 'premature optimization' - ossifying your thinking before you had a chance to fully develop it. > But ironically, a lot of ideas people have are like
> wishbones. They are useless without execution. Ideas are
> more or less a multiplier. A mediocre idea with decent
> execution is far, far more valuable than a brilliant idea
> with no execution. Be it an amateur or a professional, it
> all comes down to execution. The rest is all talk, and
> talk is cheap.

In some ways, yes, but as a general point about ideas, I don’t agree.

Developing ideas is part of the creative process. Generally speaking, you have to develop a lot of ideas in order to develop some good ones. So ideas can have value as stepping stones.

And executing mediocre ideas can waste time. It can be better to hold off. More than just wasting time, it can be a form of ‘premature optimization’ – ossifying your thinking before you had a chance to fully develop it.

]]> By: Ashutosh http://www.nilkanth.com/2009/07/09/selling-fake-wishbones/comment-page-1/#comment-77635 Ashutosh Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:06:15 +0000 http://www.nilkanth.com/?p=1474#comment-77635 Thanks for your comment Jon. The idea (for this blog post) may not be new, but it was duly executed ;) Thanks for your comment Jon. The idea (for this blog post) may not be new, but it was duly executed ;)

]]> By: Ashutosh http://www.nilkanth.com/2009/07/09/selling-fake-wishbones/comment-page-1/#comment-77634 Ashutosh Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:05:34 +0000 http://www.nilkanth.com/?p=1474#comment-77634 Thanks Derek. I'm a regular reader of your blog, and I really like your style of writing. Cheers :) Thanks Derek. I’m a regular reader of your blog, and I really like your style of writing.

Cheers :)

]]> By: Jon Atkinson http://www.nilkanth.com/2009/07/09/selling-fake-wishbones/comment-page-1/#comment-77631 Jon Atkinson Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:36:43 +0000 http://www.nilkanth.com/?p=1474#comment-77631 And by extension, there are no new ideas, either. This blog post is a great example :-) http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2005/08/ideas_are_just_a_multiplier_of.html And by extension, there are no new ideas, either.

This blog post is a great example :-)

http://www.oreillynet.com/onla.....er_of.html

]]> By: Derek Sivers http://www.nilkanth.com/2009/07/09/selling-fake-wishbones/comment-page-1/#comment-77632 Derek Sivers Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:48:34 +0000 http://www.nilkanth.com/?p=1474#comment-77632 I really like your blog so I was very honored that you linked to my "multiplier" article. :-) Just wanted to say thanks and hello. I really like your blog so I was very honored that you linked to my “multiplier” article. :-)

Just wanted to say thanks and hello.

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