How Common Is Multiple Invention?
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How Common Is Multiple Invention?
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Re: How Common Is Multiple Invention?
#2I've thought a few times when reading some funding announcement on techcrunch, "That was my idea!" which is super validating and nice to see. Some of these multiple-inventions are pretty inspiring to learn about. I think it reinforces concretely the idea that "execution" matters more than anything else.
Re: How Common Is Multiple Invention?
#3Before Galileo "invented" the telescope 3 dutch people tried to patent it simultaniously. One also described (like tesla) that hé reverse engineered it from writings by the ancients.
Re: How Common Is Multiple Invention?
#4I've thought a few times when reading some funding announcement on techcrunch, "That was my idea!" which is super validating and nice to see. Some of these multiple-inventions are pretty inspiring to learn about. I think it reinforces concretely the idea that "execution" matters more than anything else.
Yeah. TBH I highly doubt the mainstream, condensed narrative of history. The focus is always on individuals; each invention conveniently having just one inventor, one hero... Whereas in reality, it's almost always a group of people sharing ideas and each making progress until one person stumbles upon the incremental improvement which makes the invention finally useful; that person gets all the credit, everyone else is a footnote, you have to dig into the history to actually learn about those other people. When I read serious history books or articles, I'm often shocked to learn about the contributions made by people I'd never heard of previously. When it comes to mainstream narratives, it's 'early bird gets the worm', there is little regard for contribution quality or even quantity. Someone could be doing most of the work, then some random person who's been quietly following that person's work comes along and delivers just the last missing piece; the frosting on the cake, so to speak, and they get the credit for the entire thing.
There are only a few cases I can think of where people seem to have a semi-realistic view on invention. Children often ask "who invented the computer?" and they are often disappointed by the answer because, it was so drawn-out (multiple generations), so granular, that you can't even make up an approximate answer. People grasping really hard will utter names like Charles Babbage but then acknowledge that there are a huge number of mathematicians, physicists and engineers behind it. Literally anyone who invented anything related to electricity and material science made a contribution too. It's the reality for most inventions that they materialized quickly within a single generation; this created a race situation and simple people basically agreed on some relatable finish line and then named a winner on that basis. The summary of history is written for simpletons; it's a caricature, it characterizes it in some way but it's also comical.
Re: How Common Is Multiple Invention?
#5For folks who comment before reading, the article uses "multiple invention" as follows:
"In “How Common is Independent Discovery?,” Matt Clancy catalogues several attempts to estimate the frequency of multiple discovery, and tentatively comes up with a frequency of around 2-3% for simultaneous scientific discoveries, and perhaps an 8% chance that a given invention will be reinvented in the next decade"
I.e. they are not talking about multiple people working together on an invention, but rather parallel discoveries.
Re: How Common Is Multiple Invention?
#6I've thought a few times when reading some funding announcement on techcrunch, "That was my idea!" which is super validating and nice to see. Some of these multiple-inventions are pretty inspiring to learn about. I think it reinforces concretely the idea that "execution" matters more than anything else.
Yeah. TBH I highly doubt the mainstream, condensed narrative of history. The focus is always on individuals; each invention conveniently having just one inventor, one hero... Whereas in reality, it's almost always a group of people sharing ideas and each making progress until one person stumbles upon the incremental improvement which makes the invention finally useful; that person gets all the credit, everyone else i…
I find this applies to far more than just history. Anything attempting to get widespread appeal must be simplified. So much so, that whenever I notice an agreed upon understanding shared by the mainstream, I start to suspect that it's likely wrong (at least, wrong enough).
Re: How Common Is Multiple Invention?
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah. TBH I highly doubt the mainstream, condensed narrative of history. The focus is always on individuals; each invention conveniently having just one inventor, one hero... Whereas in reality, it's almost always a group of people sharing ideas and each making progress until one person stumbles upon the incremental improvement which makes the invention finally useful; that person gets all the credit, everyone else i…
I find this applies to far more than just history. Anything attempting to get widespread appeal must be simplified. So much so, that whenever I notice an agreed upon understanding shared by the mainstream, I start to suspect that it's likely wrong (at least, wrong enough).
Agreed, same with business/entrepreneurship. Employees don't get much credit, even the really talented ones. Also, competitors don't get any credit, even though they may have added valuable competitive pressure which may have inspired and steered the winner to success. Who gets to be the front-man/front-woman for success is heavily timing and luck-oriented.
Re: How Common Is Multiple Invention?
#8Before Galileo "invented" the telescope 3 dutch people tried to patent it simultaniously. One also described (like tesla) that hé reverse engineered it from writings by the ancients.
Many inventions simply happen when the environment is ready for them, e.g. manufacturing techniques have advanced to the point where something is possible.
Re: How Common Is Multiple Invention?
#9Before Galileo "invented" the telescope 3 dutch people tried to patent it simultaniously. One also described (like tesla) that hé reverse engineered it from writings by the ancients.
Many inventions simply happen when the environment is ready for them, e.g. manufacturing techniques have advanced to the point where something is possible.
Others get forgotten about because the funding or key manufacturing techniques don’t exist so the idea gets lost.
It can be a long way from a prototype to something worth building at scale.
Re: How Common Is Multiple Invention?
#10Before Galileo "invented" the telescope 3 dutch people tried to patent it simultaniously. One also described (like tesla) that hé reverse engineered it from writings by the ancients.
Not terribly surprising, since using focused light to start fires was known to the ancients. From there, it’s not a huge leap to optics (however crude).