Does An Idea Have Value?

A similar question was recently posed in a online discussion. Some people answered this question quickly by saying that ideas are worth absolutely nothing until someone puts money down on the table for them. I wholeheartedly disagree. Value is not just about dollars and cents. Value can be about potential – for change, innovation, meaning, emotion, function, or design. Even in the context of business, these elements, especially in today’s economy are the keys to business success. It’s the businesses that understand that, the ones that have the intuition and sense to see and believe in that potential, that will be the ones that move on to create the future in business world.

I subscribe to Stanley's viewpoint that an idea has intrinsic value whether it is executed or not. I believe that it is extremely important to have several ideas being discussed in order for humanity to be creative and progressive. The richer a person’s idea bank, the more prosperous he/she is likely to be. Because ideas that are discussed and aired have a way of seeping into the psyche of people, they can transform thinking and being from deep down without being acted upon ( and converted to dollars). Ideas spawn more ideas, only some of which maybe actionable. While every action has an idea behind it, every idea need not have an action. Imagination, dreams and day dreams have huge value, they make us human , a creative human who can have rich experiences -and making dollars out of an idea is only one aspect of it. If everything humans did can be considered value only if they made mega dollars then we wouldn’t have children or families, we’d all be dollar machines. We need dollars only so that we can be free of making further dollars, an idea that makes dollars possible is only one kind of an idea. If we didn’t have ideas in our heads our lives would have no hope, no aspirations, no faith, no beliefs, no values - because they are all only ideas .

Does an idea have value? To answer this we need first to understand what is an idea and what is value. The dictionary says that an idea is a thought that comes as a result of mental activity. An idea also may be defined as an opinion, view, or belief. Value on the other hand is defined in the dictionary as relative worth or importance. So the real question may be reformulated as follws: does an opion/view/belief have any worth or relative importance? I would tend to think that a given opinion does indeed have some value, because on that basis I may decide to take action or no action. Taking action could yield a positive or negative outcome. Not taking action could also yield the same. Thus, having an idea has value in itself inasmuch as it helps me decide what to do (action or no action) after the "ideation" or thought creation process. And this alone does bear value in itself. Without ideas action would never occur. So in short, I for one belive that an idea does have value.. Thanks

This is a nice contribution. Please let them come in.