The excitement of discovery

When working on a challenging problem, the solution might seemingly arrive out-of-the-blue, in what is often referred to as the “Aha!” moment. This moment of sudden insight is unpredictable, and a subjective experience but often accompanied by strong positive emotions. As such it might amount to the excitement of discovery. Or, in the words of Bertrand Russell, the philosopher and mathematician (1872-1970): 'Nothing in the world is more exciting than a moment of sudden discovery or invention, and many more people are capable of experiencing such moments than is sometimes thought.'.

Learning from reverse engineering

In product design, reverse engineering is to unearth certain components that can be repurposed for different application. Theft occurs in certain cases where the entire set of components that make up a product is appropriated and for which reason patents and copyright were created . More often, however, reverse engineering, both literally and figuratively is a legitimate way to establish what is going on in a specific field, practice or occupation. In these cases, reversed engineering is a form of dependent creation as evidenced in how original and valuable creations were built on the knowledge, experience, and copying of elements of what came before. Indeed, it is how we learn as humans, from an early age - we copy, then extend. That is, there is always some level of copying in accumulating knowledge directed to discovery and learning. Learning from reverse engineering, "reverse ideation" would mean keeping track of one's own ideation process, say, through sketches - what the architect Michael Graves would call "the referential sketch", or through a record of "swiped ideas" or inspirations from the the web. The recorded ideation process could then be reflected upon, and analysed for links and influences and in so doing becoming a learning experience.