'Innovation In a Flash' Is a Myth

An anonymous reader writes "A New York Times article spells out what most of us probably already knew: real innovation takes lots of time and hard work to come to fruition. The article looks at the origins of new ideas, and attempts to dispel the myth that 'Eureka' moments create change. Comments author Scott Berkun, 'To focus on the magic moments is to miss the point. The goal isn't the magic moment: it's the end result of a useful innovation. Everything results from accretion. I didn't invent the English language. I have to use a language that someone else created in order to talk to you. So the process by which something is created is always incremental. It always involves using stuff that other people have made.'"

Comments

Exactly!

[AlphaDrake]

You may think my hamburger earmuffs were thought up in a flash. But it took a long time to get the pickle matrix just right.

Innovation

[Wowsers]

I have a patent on innovation :-).

intellectual property

[User 956]

I didn't invent the English language. I have to use a language that someone else created in order to talk to you. So the process by which something is created is always incremental. It always involves using stuff that other people have made.

Lucky for us, corporate america is catching on, and they're probably working on a subscription service for that incremental innovation. Because you can't just have un-owned ideas out there, floating around.

only 10% imagination

[alfrenovsky]

Investigation is 10% imagination and 90% perspiration. That's why most investigators smells so bad.

One Premise Argument

[Wazukkithemaster]

I have to use a language that someone else created in order to talk to you. So the process by which something is created is always incremental. It always involves using stuff that other people have made.

I speak therefore everything is always incremental? Ok Descartes...