[ibdknox]

The word "formula" is very important in his statement - yes we have techniques for coming up with new ideas, but we do not have a formula for it. A formula produces a consistent and reproducible result. If we actually had such a thing it'd be the real-life equivalent of a magic lamp; make a wish for a new idea about x and out it comes.

The reality of the situation is far too messy for such a clean solution to exist. There are an infinite number of variables, biases, and contexts that foster or hinder "creativity" and the very notion of "rebellion" is defined entirely by context. So while we may have techniques that increase our chances of coming up with new ideas, we're no where near a factory for real creativity.

EDIT: I define real creativity as "reasoned new ideas" - it's trivial to write a formula for combining things randomly, but I don't think anyone here would argue that as actual creativity.

[pg]

If he means formula in that narrow a sense, then his larger point is mistaken. Most of being a good doctor is not reducible to formulas either, but that doesn't prevent medical schools from working.

Only a small fraction of what humans learn consists of formulas in the narrow sense. And an even smaller fraction of the most valuable things they learn.

[sillysaurus]

make a wish for a new idea about x and out it comes.

Isn't that a description of a YC RFS? It's still too early to tell whether RFS works or not, but it's almost precisely what you've described.

[ibdknox]

I guess you could make the million monkeys argument, but that's just playing with the law of large numbers. The original statement was intended to apply to a single person or at most a small number of individuals.

Even beyond that though, I'm not sure that "ask for ideas" (which is all the RFS is) could really be construed as a formula for creativity. It's a mechanism for surfacing creativity that springs from elsewhere.

You'd have to ask PG whether or not the RFS stuff has really been that helpful. From my experience in YC, the most "successful" companies had nothing to do with the RFSs.

[throwaway1979]

Isn't the YC RFS a few years old at this point? If one was being written today, I wonder what it would list?