We don't need to be told ideas are worthless. What we need is how to tell when an idea is worth it?

The "eureka method of idea formation", I think, banks on our grand vision of telling a great story at some point in the future about how the thought of this cool thing came to us in a flash of lightning and how our lives were never the same from that point on. Unadulterated self deception!

So where to look for great ideas? Here might be one candidate - places where people have been collecting and digesting data about a problem area for a period of time, find themselves stuck with a problem, toss and turn it around for a while and find an unprecedented way to think about it. In other words, ask "what process of engagement with the domain have you gone through that led to that idea?". The process is, I think, likely to give a hint about the value of the idea.

I'm sure the school bully mentioned will have a tough time answering that question.