[josephg]

I assume you place yourself in that 0.1%? Or was it 0.01%?

Personally, I think we're all winging it almost every moment of our lives. Relative to domain experts, I'm bad at almost everything I do. (Cooking, driving, talking, writing, planning, etc). I'm only really good at maybe 2 or 3 things.

I think we're all like this. And its fundamentally ok. Its how human brains are wired.

Sometimes I imagine dividing all my thoughts between things I've personally invented and things I've heard from others. Whats the ratio? I think at least 95% of my thoughts come from other people. Maybe 99%. Maybe more.

[bagacrap]

How could you even tell if you've personally invented something? You don't know what caused a thought to pop into your head. Heck I often forget things I've said, so I clearly forget things I've heard. I could be fully convinced an idea was my own and still be dead wrong.

Luckily you can build on the ideas of others without being a cargo cultist. Simply verify the sturdiness of the foundation before you go adding an extra wing to the house.

[hellothere1337]

Nah I'm pretty stupid and follow the herd, its the reason for my success too!