18 December 2000 - fusing ideas

It may be that every new idea is created by the fusion of existing ideas. How does this mysterious fusion, the secret core of creativity itself, take place? Welding, of course! In arc welding, the spark of genius melts solid old ideas and flows them together into a single, indestructible whole. In vacuum welding, two ideas brought together in an otherwise-empty head stick together because there’s nothing else to get between them.