The only method for stimulation imagination I know (besides alcohol) is using analogies. This method has an inherent contradiction. On the one hand, using analogy can lead to discovering a new way, on the other hand, an analogy can be too dominative, too attractive, shading other solutions. Accident hints do not resolve this contradiction. It works only in very 'divergent' areas, like advertising. ' One of the ways, which gives hope for resolving this contradiction is using generalized analogies based on some deep structural similarities. Investigation methods are directed also to uncovering underlying structures, and thus - surprisingly - for unleashing imagination.

The other way can be based on the collection of the predefined list of generalised analogs, known as design heuristics, invention principles, etc. I believe that that for creating such lists the theoretical approach should be applied. In my opinion, the fittest for this is Shannon's Information Theory (see my article(s))

Thank you, Himanshu Singh, for your detailed and emotional answer. Before all, I didn't mention alcohol seriously. In Russian culture, it helps to overcome the feeling that being creative is a curse)

You gave an interesting example, that seems to have some background. I recall the Attack-Dispersion story, which was introduced in the article 'Analogical Problem Solving' https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/23210 This story was designed as the artificial analog of famous Dunker's radiation problem. Let me guess. The laser beam focuses on the gall bladder stone. On its way, it is diffused to prevent the damage of tissues. Am I right?

One never knows what specific analogy can help in resolving the specific problem. Moreover, for creative problems, one can not know this by default. So, analogies are working well in divergent problems, like 'suggest new uses for bricks', often used in creativity tests. Here any new suggestion can be useful. For convergent problems, the number of used analogies should be limited. Thus, we will face the problem of choosing relevant analogies. What analogy should be applied to uncover the main COVID-19 mechanism? (Clue: dam break)

Why I think, that Information Theory can help? One of the ways to overcome the selection problem is by creating a full list of analogies. This is possible only on the highest abstraction level, otherwise, the list will be too vast. On the highest level is the concept of Information. Adequate information content and a sufficient amount of information are the exclusive requirements for good regulators (The Ashby Theorem). Thus, if a regulator does not perform its function, the problem is in information content. Regulators are widely present in our world. Biological, technical systems, all organizations are regulators. For good performance, in most cases, the information content of the regulator should be increased, and sometimes - reduced. Thus, methods of increasing and reducing the amount of contained information are common for all regulators. On the highest level, abstracting from specific information, as related to specific problems, the set of these methods can be considered complete. Such methods can be defined from Information Theory equations. Surprisingly, this set covers most of the principles, known from TRIZ, SIT, used in Lean Production, etc. Thus, applying Information Theory gives hope for creating the theory of qualitative improving regulators, thus - for solving the vast majority of problems.

This is my point. I hope it is completely new.

Thank you, Himanshu Singh ) I completely agree with your thoughts about alcohol and also about all this stuff claimed by Harrari. It is really sad to see how much power is now in the hands of people sharing his vision.

About Corona. I mentioned the "dam effect" as one of the possible mechanisms of the virus's heavy outcomes. Virus penetrates cells via Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2), bound in cells membrane. This enzyme is part of some system (RAS system). The RAS system regulates blood pressure. The function of the enzyme is to clear up some substance called Angiotensin 2 (AT2). AT2 is produced mostly by another enzyme called Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (without '2'). There are also some other sources of AT2. Both enzymes are concentrated mostly in human lungs, but ACE is more dispersed. Virus attacking cells caused an increasing concentration of AT2 (3-5 times). This effect was discovered in the first phases of the pandemic. The outcome is increasing blood pressure. But this is not a deadly issue.

I claim that an attack is performed in clusters. Not like in Military problem we mentioned. I mean, not from different directions, but just because the virus is massively replicated by a contaminated cell. The clustering also was observed. This can cause a drastic increasing concentration of AT2 in local areas, especially in tiny lung blood vessels. It is like a flood just after a damaged dam. A high concentration of AT2 can cause all known COVID-2 symptoms.

This can explain, for example, the fact that drugs dealing with AT2, like ACE inhibitors, show surprisingly high effectiveness.