Top Highlights

• Thought experiments construct a parallel universe in which things work differently. They require us, as philosopher Kendall Walton explains, to “imagine specific fictional worlds, as kinds of situational setups that when you run, perform, or simply imagine them, lead to specific results.”3 Through thought experiments, we transcend everyday thinking...
• Consider Nikola Tesla, the famous Serbian American inventor. His thought experiments powered his imagination, producing the alternating-current system that now powers our lives.5 Tesla built and tested inventions all in his mind. “Before I put a sketch on paper, the whole idea
• is worked out mentally,” he explained. “I do not rush into actual work. When I get an idea, I start at once building it up in my imagination. I change the construction, make improvements and operate the device in my mind. It is absolutely immaterial to me whether I run my turbine in thought or test it in my shop.”6
• moment. As shocking as it sounds, we can generate breakthroughs simply by thinking. No Google. No self-help books. No focus groups or surveys. No advice from a self-proclaimed life coach or an expensive consultant. No copying from competitors. This external search for answers impedes first-principles thinking by focusing our attention on how things...
• Curiosity is a crucial ingredient in any thought experiment. It’s what propelled Galileo to pose his thought experiment, and Scott to test its validity on the lunar surface.