Eureka moments and truth

Currently it is widely believed that eureka moments or insights - like Einstein’s “happiest thought” - are associated with the revelation of truth.

My hypothesis is that eureka moments instead assign importance to ideas in a random or pseudorandom way. They make us fall in love with an idea, rather than guarantee that it is true.

By random or pseudorandom, I mean that these changes are not directed toward a guaranteed useful outcome, much like mutations in evolution.

Prediction

Even when the idea is mistaken, such an experience should be capable of producing happiness and conviction indistinguishable from those accompanying a sound idea. The initial feeling alone would not reliably distinguish the two, and the attachment could persist long after the moment itself.

Even an insight accompanied by extraordinary happiness can be mistaken. The happiness itself does not establish its truth. Instead, it can set your direction for several days or even several years. And if that direction is useful, the motivation can help you follow through.

This prediction follows from the proposed role of insight within the instinct “to change the world our way”.