Grace Stern asked Michael Grant:

Where do you get your inspiration to write your books?

Michael Grant I don't know. That's the short answer.

I conceive of human lives as existing (metaphorically) at the center of a Venn diagram composed of circles representing DNA, life experience (including childhood), free will (or the convincing illusion of same), and random chance. We are each, I believe, the products of our DNA, modified by what we experience. But we also make choices. And sometimes life for no good reason just comes along to smack the shit out of you (random chance.)

The closest I've come to illustrating this is by referencing Google's Deep Dream. That is an experiment in which a simple neural net - think primitive computer without even a true operating system - is fed a database of photos, and then tasked with analyzing those photos. (It's more complicated than that, but basically.)

The neural net which had been fed a database heavy on certain images - eyes, dogs, whatever. Then, when the neural net was given a new photo and tasked to analyze it, the neural net 'found' what it had been taught to find. In other words, dogs and eyes started appearing. https://www.google.com/search?q=googl...

That link is to one image to give you an idea. And if you're easily disturbed by grossness, maybe skip it.

So, OK, what does this tell me about where ideas come from? Well, in effect you have a somewhat more sophisticated computer (my brain) attempting to make sense of images or ideas by comparing them to my initial programming. (In my case it was not dogs and eyeballs.) The interaction of my neural net and reality sometimes causes whole new objects to appear - just like the eyeballs in the attached picture. The result is eyeball spaghetti.

And yep, I have the feeling that was too long and yet not long enough to make complete sense. But it's what I got today.

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