alt Hacker NewsIt's moments like that, and Kekule's story of the snake dream for benzene that make me feel unworthy of being a scientist. I sometimes wonder: in my career of looking at things, did I miss something fundamental and significant simply because my powers of observation and general intelligence were insufficient?
Well, I don't know that every scientist has to have poetic dreams about snakes (Kekule) or apples (Newton).
Weirdly I often have dreams where I am 'solving' some problem, however on waking I realise the details are nonsense - not just the solution, but the problem itself. I think dreams are often a way to just exercise and sort memories and ideas. There is no reasoning involved.
A lot of science is just process, or multiple careful experimentation. Preparing for getting lucky is another matter.