The idea algorithm: Erik is thinking about ideas, and has created a sort of scientific equation to explain what a “good” idea is (or, the threshold that will cause someone to act on an idea.)

<Cue Batman music and spinning logo>

MEANWHILE, Peter is talking about under what circumstances we become creative/inventive: “In stressful situations, we stick to what we know; we get overly rational, and do each thing at a time. Creativity means exploring unknown alternatives, so when stressed, we obviously aren’t very creative. At the other extreme, it doesn’t seem likely that we would get creative when all is fine, when there are no problems to be solved — after all, creativity is most often about solving problems. (Perhaps we are creative in calm moments to solve problems of past failures?)”