The Research Process paradigm
(as exemplified by the "Automated Barber Machine")

In the research process, one first comes up with an idea (actually Multiple ideas, to be integrated in a single research vision). One then tests an idea by trying to attack it. While you or a friend attack the idea, you must then decide if there is a defense for the attack. If you can defend against all attacks, then you have good idea.

This excerpt from Kurt Vonnegut is an excellent example of a barber describing the "research process". The excerpt is taken from Player Piano (Chapter 20), by Kurt Vonnegut.

How the Automated Barber Machine Was Invented:

Anyway, I hope they keep those barber machines out of Miami Beach for another two years, and then I'll be ready to retire and the hell with them. They had the man who invented the damn things on television the other night, and turns out he's a barber hisself. Said he kept worrying and worrying about somebody was going to invent a haircutting machine that'd put him out of business. And he'd have nightmares about it, and when he'd wake up from them, he'd tell hisself all the reasons why they couldn't ever make a machine that'd do the job - you know, all the complicated motions a barber goes through. And then, in his next nightmare, he'd dream of a machine that did one of the jobs, like combing, and he'd see how it worked clear as a bell. And it was just a vicious circle. He'd dream. Then he'd tell hisself something the machine couldn't do. Then he'd dream of a machine, and he'd see just how a machine could do what he'd said it couldn't do. And on and on, until he'd dreamed up a whole machine that cut hair like nobody's business. And he sold his plans for a hundred thousand bucks and royalties, and I don't guess he has to worry about anything any more.