In many fields the challenge nowadays is not coming up with good hypotheses; they're straightforward to generate, and can even be produced automatically (e.g., via "data mining" algorithms and analyses). The trick is to prune the unnecessary, suboptimal, and distracting — so that really good ideas can stand out and be studied. As in horticulture ...

(see also GoodIdeas (20 Jul 1999), ... )

TopicThinking - 2004-06-06

(correlates: Comments on AsIfSoManyMinutes, ParallelProcessingParadox, UnreliableNarrators, ...)