Invention
kevinlawler.com
Invention
1–10 of 22 posts
Re: Invention
#2The other day I saw a commercial for the company Invent Help . I usually ignore them but for once it really got me thinking. They start by saying something along the lines of "are you an inventor..." which lead me to ask the same question as you (assuming you're Kevin); does anyone actually give them self the title "Inventor?" Event if you "invent" full time, doesn't that seem a bit pretentious? It could just be the US culture, but inventors seem to be a term to describe originators of technology, pushed by Hollywood. In movies and tv shows today we have engineers and scientists, decades and centuries ago we had inventors. I could go into a whole rant about the Invent Help company, but I'll save that for another time.
Re: Invention
#3I was surprised by the number of powerful ideas packed into this essay. My intellectual horizons have been broadened!
Maybe some (or all) of these ideas are old and familiar to others, but most of them are new to me.
Re: Invention
#4Re: Invention
#5And as William Morris once said: "Nothing useless can be truly beautiful."
Re: Invention
#6"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899. (possibly mis-attributed)
Been there, done that. The next wave of invention has yet to come, and it won't be anything like you can possibly expect. If it were, you'd have invented it already.
Re: Invention
#7Wow, that was truly a brilliant article, one of the best I've read in a long time.
Re: Invention
#8The other day I saw a commercial for the company Invent Help . I usually ignore them but for once it really got me thinking. They start by saying something along the lines of "are you an inventor..." which lead me to ask the same question as you (assuming you're Kevin); does anyone actually give them self the title "Inventor?" Event if you "invent" full time, doesn't that seem a bit pretentious? It could just be the…
We have some of the same thoughts on the matter. There was a thread on invention and marketing that I had to drop. Treating the marketing aspect properly takes the conversation too far away from the main subject. Points like who invented what first are too hot to introduce without spending a lot of time accounting for them. (That surprised me.) The same goes for who can be considered an inventor today.
I think invention and marketing have an old and deep connection.
Re: Invention
#9I've actually got a ton of ideas for inventions but I have no idea how to break into the business. Any advice? Any books I could read?
Re: Invention
#10"Everything that can be invented has been invented." Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899. (possibly mis-attributed) Been there, done that. The next wave of invention has yet to come, and it won't be anything like you can possibly expect. If it were, you'd have invented it already.
I don't normally quote scripture around strangers, but:
"What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."
Ecclesiastes 1:9