Anything can provoke an idea. It is part of the way our brain functions, the ideas may not always make sense or be productive but they are manufactured. How people think of the littlest things and expand them shocks me. Fire may not be an invention but people using it to cook, and use as a source of heat is a brilliant idea. What raised this idea? Was it a mistake or an experiment? The thought of the world ending is another mystery itself. Is there scientific evidence to prove this fact or is it a myth? Thinking outside the box, an expression often used by teachers is what sparks that little part of your brain that thinks. Theories are basically ideas that are thoroughly researched, but how those ideas develop and how the person who came up with the idea make most of them is beyond me. I think ideas come out of nowhere and everywhere. It is impossible to stop thinking and where that thinking takes you depends on the way you think.
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