It takes two to think
Nature Biotechnology volume 42, pages 18–19 (2024 )Cite this article
At the heart of science is a creative ‘night science’ process, in which we haphazardly cobble together the ideas that will become its future building blocks1,2. Despite the variety of creative approaches practiced by different scientists, one tried-and-true — though often overlooked — trick for generating new ideas stands out. It may sound trivial, yet it is as reliable as it is simple: talk to someone. By talking with other people, we not only pool the information or ideas that each of us individually lacks, but we are also able to improvise new thoughts that are not accessible to us alone.
Language imposes structure on our thinking and forces us to project a tangled network of thoughts into a linear, logical string of words and ideas. We often do not even know what we are thinking until we express it, either in writing or in speech. An intelligent interlocutor can offer crucial additional benefits over a passive medium by exposing flaws in our reasoning, suggesting new directions of thought, or pointing out supporting or contradictory evidence that we may have overlooked3. Mental breakthroughs are often achieved by escaping from an established habit of thought, a step that is much more easily taken if we engage our thinking with that of another. Communication also serves an important psychological function: our morale thrives on the encouragement that we get from the feedback of someone who understands our work and our motivations4.
