Hanging by a thread

Everyone in my life, at some point, has received at least one message from me that starts “I know this is random but…” as my brain throws up questions that I then have to find the answer to or I can’t rest.

So today it’s your turn.

I know this is random but why don’t National institutes of science/psychology/whatever have a research suggestion box? Given that sometimes looking from the outside in can produce new and useful avenues why don’t we have a place where we could post our theories/hypotheses and even suggest methods of research to look at?

Maybe an artist comes up with a good way of understanding colour refraction, a bus driver understands a statistical problem and has a good idea to approach it.

Why don’t we encourage thinking outside of the box? How many problems would we solve if we put aside egos and actually listened to people?

It could simply be a part of a website that someone goes through every couple of weeks, and if it leads to a new avenue of thought then the person who suggested it gets their name on the research paper and those working in the industry get new ideas to try. Seems win win to me.