Dissociation of Ideas, 4

I deas are the source of all technology, all wealth, all changes in the environment by brain power.

There are four sources of ideas:

mechanical association, a la Pavlov;

logic;

experiment;

intuition.

Mechanical association is simple, quick, and often necessary to survival (e.g., stove is hot: don’t touch stove).

Logic can discover whether a system of ideas is self-consistent.

Experiment can discover whether ideas are always true, always false, or sometimes true and sometimes false (e.g., cold stove not hot: safe to touch cold stove).

Intuition ALONE can generate new ideas and associations, new technology, new wealth.

Note well that mechanical association can be totally arbitrary and false (e.g., racism). Logic cannot, by itself, discover whether a self-consistent system has any relationship to the sensory-sensual-existential world. Experiment is aimless (the experimenter doesn’t even know what to measure) unless given a direction by logic or intuition. Intuition can be totally wrong if not checked by logic or experiment.