Brainstorming, not mushing...idea #40/100...

What do we do from dawn to dusk? How do we spend our time? How does our mind work from one moment to the next? I suspect that we don't ask these questions that often.

We have intentions and we have tasks that we have to do and tasks that we habitually do. But what does the brain do all day long? I'm interested in those creative moments, when we have an idea, perhaps a novel idea (novel to our experience or consideration), but also a chance to break the pattern. For a moment, our minds take us into a realm of thought that's outside our regular daily schedule and habits. For example, I often have "entrepreneurial" thoughts that project my future into a different business pattern than the one I'm currently engaged with (we all have these, right?)

If we carefully observe when and how these moments occur, it is as if we are interrupted. Ideas bubble to the surface and we process them; connections are suddenly made, almost without effort.

I'm interested in these moments and whether or not they can be stimulated more often, controlled, captured and perhaps acted upon if we have external stimuli. You can probably guess what's coming next...

...the mobile...

Our "friend" the mobile is with us constantly. It also interrupts us.

Can it be used to stimulate creative moments? Well, I have a number of theories on this, most (all) of them underdeveloped and in need of a lengthy essay, not a bloglet. However, what sprang to mind was the notion that a mobile has a unique potential to interrupt, as it is always present to do so. Could this be taken advantage of?

Also, there is the oft-mentioned attribute of a mobile, which is its usefulness for "killing time". That's a phrase I don't care for very much. Time is far too valuable to think about killing it.

The common "time-killer" is game playing. For me, much of electronic game playing in the "time killing" mode is brain-mushing stuff. Admittedly, it might allow the sub-conscious to operate more effectively, but I don't have the experience or the research to back that up.

Could a "game" be devised that stimulates creative thought? Is there such thing as a brain-storming game?

Let's imagine that there is. Could that game also act of its own accord? Could it initiate creative thought by interrupting me with a challenge? In other words, my phone isn't sitting in a "do-nothing" loop all day, but is "thinking" in concert with my current "long-term" thought patterns and is developing challenges.

As these challenges are coming from my phone, it has the potential to involve communication. For example, might it suggest that I call "Mr Smith to talk about widgets", as it knows of Mr Smith and that there might be a connection with a widgets meme that had previously emerged out of playing the game. If my mobile also monitors all my conversations, emails, RSS feeds and messages, it might also know that Mr Smith is in some way connectable to the meme.

It might also suggest that I "read this page" and present me with a mobile Web page about the widgets meme.

Umm...

I think I need a few creative moments on this one...

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