Slashdot Mirror
Are There Any Real Inventors Left?
An anonymous reader writes "The BBC is running a story about invention and innovation, suggesting that there have been no truly new inventions in a long time. 'Consumers are presented with an "invention illusion," which is really little more than a marketing tool to give the impression of "breakthrough" products. This is a difficult cycle to break, particularly with the media's appetite for sensational stories, and it is hampering opportunities for credible companies without sexy stories. It also means that many entrepreneurs are looking for innovation in the wrong places and pursuing new product design ineffectively.' It leads to the question: what are the most recent things you can think of that have been actual, new inventions? Or has the high-tech revolution just been iterative innovation?"
/smug
what are the most recent things you can think of that have been actual, new inventions?
The Apple Invention of rounded corners !
Clearly they invented the portable music device, the tablet computer, the cellular phone and the personal computer. No other company has done so much to enrich our lives. In about 3 years time we'll see that they will have invented the television too.
"...iPhone was not a new invention - it was just a much better telephone than any we'd seen before." And the light bulb was just a much better way to light up the room...
ability to scale 5 orders of magnitude in physical dimension is no smelly feet
There, fixed that for you
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Good points, but among the many good reasons that Bell didn't invent the telephone in ancient greece was that he wasn't born yet. *rimshot*
I'm a programmer who has been literally working in my shed for the last two and a half years on a new form of social networking protocol, which I believe is very innovative.