Random Word Stimulation

This is a practical and definite procedure in which the true random nature of the input is beyond doubt. If one is a purist one can use a table of random numbers to select a page in a dictionary. The number of a word on that page (counting down the page) can also be obtained from the table of random numbers. With less trouble one can simply think of two numbers and find the word that way. Or throw some dice. What one must not do is to open a dictionary and go through the pages until one finds a likely looking word. That would be selection and it would be useless from a random stimulation point of view.

The numbers 473–13 were given by a table of random numbers and using the Penguin English Dictionary the word located was: ‘noose’. The problem under consideration was ‘the housing shortage’. Over a timed three minute period the following ideas were generated:

noose – tightening noose – execution – what are the difficulties in executing a housing programme – what is the bottleneck, is it capital, labour or land?

noose tightens – things are going to get worse with the present rate of population increase.

noose – rope – suspension construction system – tentlike houses but made of permanent materials – easily packed and erected – or on a large scale with several houses suspended from one framework – much lighter materials possible if walls did not have to support themselves and the roof.

noose – loop – adjustable loop – what about adjustable round houses which could be expanded as required – just uncoil the walls – no point in having houses too large to begin with because of heating problems, extra attention to walls and ceilings, furniture etc. – but facility for slow stepwise expansion as need arises, noose – snare – capture – capture a share of the labour market – capture – people captured by home ownership due to difficulty in selling and complications – lack of mobility – houses as exchangeable units – classified into types – direct exchange of one type for similar type – or put one type into the pool and take out a similar type elsewhere.

Some of the above ideas may be useful, others may not. All of them could have been arrived at by straightforward vertical thinking but that does not mean that they would have been arrived at this way. As discussed before if an idea is tenable at all then it must be possible in hindsight to see how it could have been arrived at by logical means but this does not mean that it would have been arrived at in this way. Sometimes the link to the random word may be effected after the idea has come to mind rather than the random word stimulating the idea. Nevertheless the use of the random word has stimulated a large number of different ideas in a short period of time.

From this example may be seen the way the random word is used. Often the random word is used to generate further words which themselves link up with the problem being considered. Examples of this include: noose — execution — bottleneck; noose — rope — suspension; noose — snare — capture. A chain of ideas stretches out from the random word in order to effect a link with the problem. At times the functional properties of a noose were transferred to the problem: tightening noose, adjustable, round. The random word can be used in these and in many other ways. There is no one correct way to use it. In some cases a pun on the word may be used, or its opposite, or the word spelled slightly differently. The word is used in order to get things going — not to prove anything. Not even to prove that random word stimulation is useful.

Time allowed

In the above example the time allowed was three minutes. This is quite long enough to stimulate ideas. If one sits around with a word long enough then it can become boring. With practice and confidence three minutes should be enough or at most five minutes. What one must not do is to immediately look for another random word at the end of the period because this tends to set up a search routine in which one goes through word after word until one finds a suitable one. Suitable would only mean one that fits in with the established views of the situation. If one wants to try another word it should be on another occasion. Knowing that one is going to move directly to another word (and hopefully a better one) reduces the effectiveness of the first word. Even after the end of the fixed period further ideas will occur. One can note them down. But there is no question of going through the rest of the day desperately trying to extract the maximum from the random word. One can get into the habit of using a random word on a problem for three minutes every day.

Confidence

The most important factor in the successful use of random stimulation is confidence. There is no sense of urgency or effort but a quiet confidence that something will emerge. It is difficult to build such confidence because at first ideas will be slow to come. But as one learns to handle random stimulation in the knowledge that nothing can be irrelevant it becomes easier and easier.