What does it take for an idea to be both useful and original? The concept of an original idea hints at both novelty and cohesion—namely:

• no one has conceived the idea before,
• all parts of it are unique in idea space.

Consider the authors of original ideas and how they had to learn how to be functional human beings first—as well as their parents or tutors and the parents or tutors before them. As Carl Sagan put it, “if you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” An original thinker has first to catch up with the “common sense” before tackling new problems. The proof that no blank-slated mind can produce anything meaningful is that newborns hardly have groundbreaking ideas.

“I invented nothing new. I simply assembled the discoveries of other men behind whom were centuries of work. Progress happens when all the factors that make for it are ready and then it is inevitable.” (Henry Ford)

But let’s put this point aside for a moment and consider an idea which isn’t related to previous human knowledge whatsoever. Maybe someone is staring at a screen with random numbers or permutations. Will she eventually come up with an entirely original idea? Yes, Fortune tellers can give people insights through randomness. Will it be useful? It depends. In a world with limited resources and time, a good idea must fulfill a purpose (i.e. solve a problem) within these constraints. So ideas can be original, but being original and useful is much rarer.

However, if the idea drawn from the random information generator is useful, it won’t be completely original because solutions must hold at least part of the problem in themselves. A key’s shape is a replication of the lock’s, and the lock already existed before.

“Nothing is born or perishes, but already existing things combine and then separate again.” (Anexagoras)