Diego Golombek invites you to explore the fascinating science behind innovative ideas in his book, “The Science of Good Ideas.” In this passionate and well-documented work, Golombek seeks to uncover the processes that lead us to ideas that not only solve problems, but also open new horizons.
The writer and doctor in Biological Sciences from the National University of Buenos Aires (UBA) spoke with Chain 3 and noted that “there is a science of ideas, and more than a science a neuroscience, and it is surprisingly simple.”
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In this context, he said: “If I had to spoil that science, the recipe for scientific ideas would be work-work-work-disruption. Work to make you an expert on the subject and disruption to get you off the subject so that the brain can associate these concepts and arrive at these new ideas.”
From psychology and neuroscience to economics and artificial intelligence, Golombek guides us in rigorous yet accessible prose through the mysteries of creative thinking. According to the author, ideas are not the product of magic or sudden inspiration, but of complex processes in the human brain that can be understood and, to some extent, trained.
He commented that his work deals with things that happen every day, and he works on the decision of everyday things.
“For the world of ideas, disruption is doing something else. It’s not staying focused on that problem that’s burning your eyelashes, but giving yourself permission to go for a walk, stroll, meet up with friends, sleep a while; and in that moment when it seems like nothing is happening, a lot of things happen, because nothing ever happens in the brain,” he explained.
And he expanded: “When it seems to you that you are at absolute leisure, there is a default neural network that is activated in the brain and it is one of the most creative phenomena that there can be, and that is a great disruption.”
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Along those lines, he said that “allowing yourself to do nothing is a great disruption,” and added that “you have to allow yourself the luxury of leisure because that’s where wonderful ideas will come from.”
He also said that “science is not for geniuses, but for anyone who is passionate about it.” And he commented that he likes to tell “everyday science, everyday things.”
Finally, he spoke of his deep interest in uniting science and communication: “I come from communication, then I started doing science and then I brought the two worlds together. And I believe that science is not science until it is communicated.”
