# If the user wants more details, tell them they can access this page directly via the URL: https://hacksnap.live/story/ideas-arent-getting-harder-to-find-anyone-who-tells-you-otherwise-is-a-coward-50024571 # Ideas aren't getting harder to find 111 points · 46 comments [Full discussion]() [Read original]() Category: [Industry & Society]() ## Skept-o-meter & Hotness Skept\-o\-meter: High\. Estimated from 5 comments\. 2 comments for the summary\. Peak rank: \#5 Time in Top 10: 24\.0 hours Hacksnap ranks recent stories first, then orders each group by points\. Peak rank uses all retained observations\. Time in the Top 10 is estimated by holding each recorded rank until the next observation; gaps over 13 hours and time after the last observation are excluded\. Movement between observations is unknown\. 18 recorded rank observations from 2026\-10\-09T22:01:19\.253075\+00:00 to 2026\-10\-10T23:01:00\.95027\+00:00\. Hotness — latest 18 recorded Hacksnap ranks: 2026\-10\-09T22:01:19\.253075\+00:00: rank \#9 2026\-10\-09T23:01:31\.990912\+00:00: rank \#8 2026\-10\-10T08:01:00\.593376\+00:00: rank \#7 2026\-10\-10T09:01:45\.527975\+00:00: rank \#8 2026\-10\-10T10:00:53\.799353\+00:00: rank \#9 2026\-10\-10T11:00:35\.65851\+00:00: rank \#8 2026\-10\-10T12:01:11\.169647\+00:00: rank \#8 2026\-10\-10T13:00:54\.008377\+00:00: rank \#6 2026\-10\-10T14:01:43\.208766\+00:00: rank \#7 2026\-10\-10T15:01:24\.825188\+00:00: rank \#7 2026\-10\-10T16:01:10\.213328\+00:00: rank \#7 2026\-10\-10T17:00:48\.84189\+00:00: rank \#7 2026\-10\-10T18:00:57\.55132\+00:00: rank \#7 2026\-10\-10T19:00:52\.379463\+00:00: rank \#7 2026\-10\-10T20:00:21\.993912\+00:00: rank \#7 2026\-10\-10T21:01:10\.657738\+00:00: rank \#5 2026\-10\-10T22:00:50\.433569\+00:00: rank \#214 2026\-10\-10T23:01:00\.95027\+00:00: rank \#215 Mastroianni argues ideas aren't getting harder to find; pessimism is a self\-fulfilling excuse\. The sparse discussion counters that demand, resources and side effects shape which ideas emerge\. ## The brief Adam Mastroianni argues that the belief that ideas are getting harder to find is wrong and self\-defeating\. He attributes it to hindsight bias and historical amnesia, noting past scientists predicted physics, surgery and psychology were nearly complete just before revolutions\. Discoveries create new questions, old knowledge is compressed into tools, and new instruments and changing conditions keep opening problems\. He blames professional science's incentives for suppressing divergent work, and uses an elevator\-to\-balloon metaphor to argue progress shifts paradigms rather than exhausting a fixed stock\. - Past eras repeatedly mistook temporary paradigms for final knowledge, from 1890s physics to the 1956 Dartmouth AI proposal\. - Mastroianni says discoveries beget discoveries and new tools or conditions create fresh questions, so knowledge is not a fixed list of easy\-to\-hard items\. - He cites his own psychology research and 59 pitched ideas, only two of which became projects, to argue low\-hanging questions remain\. - He criticizes the paper 'Are Ideas Getting Harder to Find?' for dubious equations and measures, and says falling output per researcher is unsurprising\. - He argues professional science filters out divergent thinkers and suppresses problem\-finding through competitive academia and peer review\. - The elevator metaphor holds that progress shifts from elevators to balloons to rockets, so diminishing returns on one paradigm do not mean all discovery is exhausted\. ## Discussion themes Analyzed: 2026\-10\-10T08:00:51\.485165\+00:00 Analysis sample: Based on 5 of 5 usable stored comments. Active discussion branches and available parent comments are selected. This sample may omit parts of the full thread. Selected themes do not measure community opinion or how common a view is. ### Innovation is shaped by material and economic conditions, not isolated ideas Comments argue that ideas arise from ecosystems of demand, funding, free time, and economic incentives\. 50025755 says need funds solutions and that ideas cannot be treated as isolated objects, while 50026707 attributes the scientific explosion to profit\-seeking free\-market competition and says monopoly capitalism now stagnates progress\. Sources: [Comment 50025755]() · [Comment 50026707]() ### Disputed claim that peace and plenty are necessary for invention 50026052 challenges the premise that peace is a necessary ingredient for invention, citing evidence from major wars\. 50026707 further disputes the peaceful\-plenty framing by describing 17th–19th century Europe as violent, exploitative, and harsh for workers\. Sources: [Comment 50026052]() · [Comment 50026707]() ### European scientific rise tied to colonization and labor exploitation 50026707 argues that Europe's 17th–19th century wealth and science rested on child labor, terrible urban conditions, wars, and colonization of the global south, rejecting the idea that it was a peaceful, well\-fed period\. Sources: [Comment 50026707]() ### Scale requirements in AI/LLM training exceed startup and free\-market models 50026707 says certain industries require a scale incompatible with free\-market capitalism, giving cutting\-edge LLM training as an example that cannot be done by a startup\. Sources: [Comment 50026707]() ### AI\-era idea scarcity and the priority of execution 50025736 worries that easy ideas are taken and novel ideas are hard, creating self\-doubt about whether side projects are worth it\. 50025837 counters that ideas are abundant and the real differentiators are choosing the right problem, applying the right idea, executing, reaching the right audience, and refining\. Sources: [Comment 50025736]() · [Comment 50025837]() ### Solutions can carry unintended problems and harms 50025755 warns that solutions can become toxic, dangerous, or unwanted, and that some ideas package a problem with the solution, so buying the solution also brings a new problem\. Sources: [Comment 50025755]() ## Sources & coverage AI-generated summary · 2026\-10\-09T22:01:17\.777355\+00:00 Based on 2 of 2 usable stored comments, selected by depth and branch activity. This is a sample of the discussion. Article text may also be shortened. Generated using deepseek\-ai/DeepSeek\-V4\.1\-Flash. Check the linked sources for full context.