MysterionMuffles Posted February 19, 2014 Posted February 19, 2014 Roger Meyers Jr. said it best, "if you take away our right to steal ideas, where are they gonna come from?" I mean a car probably seemed like an original idea when it was first invented, but it is just an updated chariot.
dsayers Posted February 19, 2014 Posted February 19, 2014 First of all, what difference does it make if an idea is original or not? Not trying to undermine your thread, but it's a question that so many people that talk about such things never consider. Secondly, what makes an idea original? Since you mentioned car, does it mean that every car ever conceived beyond the first is not original? Or is it original if it's a variant of a car not yet conceived? If it's the latter, then I would argue that literally every idea is original as no two people have ever had the exact same genetic makeup, sum of experiences, and so on. What are your thoughts on it?
cab21 Posted February 19, 2014 Posted February 19, 2014 so what was the idea of the wheel updated from? what was the idea of things that roll updated from? what was the idea of using things that roll updated from? what was the idea of using things updated from? what was the idea of things updated from? would you consider the idea that at one time there was no idea of things? is there no root idea here? would you say that a chariot and a car are the same idea? that a corvette and a rolls royce are the same idea? i guess one could say all ideas are timeless and only discovered and not created, or that ideas are not timeless and can be created?
Mike Fleming Posted February 19, 2014 Posted February 19, 2014 Whether something is original or not can be very subjective. Was Coke an original idea? Sort of. But then the idea of a drink is not an original idea and Coke is just another type of drink so from one perspective it is and another it isn't. All new ideas are derived from previous knowledge in one way or another. It's like the phrase "we are all standing on the shoulders of giants". Or another one, "there's nothing new under the sun".
ProfessionalTeabagger Posted February 19, 2014 Posted February 19, 2014 "Good Artists Borrow, Great Artists Steal"
Gunnhvatr Posted February 20, 2014 Posted February 20, 2014 I remember in school there were always creative story writing projects and in my entire school career I don't believe I ever did a single one. It was always a relief if they offered the option of an essay, or something else. It was so frustrating to me that anything I could come up with was clearly just something I had already read, with a spin on it.
MysterionMuffles Posted February 21, 2014 Author Posted February 21, 2014 Ok I can see how it might turn into infinite regression, but it still seems to me that there isn't a completely original idea. Rather there are original approaches to existing ones and building on them to create new stuff such as going from the chariot to the car.
cab21 Posted February 21, 2014 Posted February 21, 2014 well someone did not build a car by setting out to build a chariot
Jer Posted February 22, 2014 Posted February 22, 2014 Chomsky says nearly every utterance is unique, so he'd say yes...
aya Posted March 3, 2014 Posted March 3, 2014 everything is an interpretation of the individual, like Teabagger almost said, life is art, individual expression.
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