"The Man Who Had No Idea" is a 1978 science fiction story by Thomas M. Disch.
In a world where licenses are required in order to participate in conversation, Barry Riordan risks failing his exam because he cannot think of anything original.
"The Man Who Had No Idea" was a finalist for the 1979 Hugo Award for Best Novelette[1] John Sladek considered it to depict "delightful problems".
[2] Kirkus Reviews noted that it "say(s) a great deal about our expectations of ourselves and others.
"[3] John Clute, however, found it to be "unaccountably genial and without formal bite", such that its "potentially formidable idea gradually declines into doodle".