thought experiments

I read alot of books. First and foremost just wanted to make that point and that I am very well read on most topics - particularly breakthrough work in many fields in the sciences. This includes physics, maths, and probability and statistics. That being said, this post is about the practice of "thought experiments." Newton , Einstein etc were great at this and regularly utilized this method of furthering and directing their research in a very acute manor.

I have began to utilize it myself - quite a bit - although I have adjusted the process slightly in order to fit my needs. My process usually goes like this: think about something cool, worthwhile, or otherwise desirable to do - and imagine all aspects of said activity or event. Once you have done this, really analyzed and walked through in a quite exhaustive manor said activity, you no longer have to physically do the alluded to "activity."

The benefits of this process are great for many reasons. The number one being that if something resembling what you ran through in your "thought experiment" comes up in conversation, you can respond that you have "thought about" doing whatever activity or event that is being talked about - while actually convincing yourself that you did more than just "think" about doing the activity. You had a "thought experiment" - a much deeper experience. Number two reason is that you don't actually have to do anything that is difficult, involved, or requires you to do something other than sit there and think. Many of these things are alot easier than the theoretical experiment you have ran through in your head - and the implementation and carrying out of the experiment may in fact be much more nuanced than thinking through it is.

Point is, it allows you to feel a sense of accomplishment without actually doing anything.