I've killed about 200 ideas.
Thirty-two years of inventing, and most of what I built died. I kept the bodies labeled — because anyone can generate an idea now, and almost nobody can tell which ones are real.
The Three Gates
Every idea, before it gets a dollar, a day, or your belief.
Is it real?
Does it survive a test designed to kill it — not one designed to confirm it? Feed it something that cannot contain the structure you're claiming. If the structure still appears, you may be measuring your method instead of reality.
Is it new?
Or are you following someone else's path in your own notation? Search the prior work before you convince yourself you've found new ground. A new name, notation, or presentation does not make an old idea new.
Does it have a foundation?
Is there a mechanism, or only a resemblance? A beautiful analogy between two domains is not a bridge between them. If you cannot explain what connects them — mathematically, physically, or causally — you may have a metaphor, not a mechanism.
Most ideas die here. Most people never check.
The Record
Why any of the above should carry weight.
Sole inventor on every patent since 1994 — no co-inventors, no institution behind any of it. First grant: a portable shade system, August 1994. Most recent: lane-level traffic sensing with vehicle-to-vehicle signalling, October 2025. See the full record