Are their any unique ideas left in the world?

Question

I donlt physical things like the latest pens for animals or obvious stuff like that...are are we just recycling old ideas in literature, art , politics, philosophy etc.,?

Answer 1

probably, yes. but are there any truely unique people left? a lot of people end up being wannabes. you know, copying celebs and stuff. and don't we have to build on information etc that we have already?

Answer 2

Some people believe that creativity has few limits. With every new innovation, new avenues for ideas emerge.

Can't remember the precise number, but in Steven Pinker's book titled "How the Mind Works" someone did an estimate of the different possible permutations for musical compositions. The 8 note tonal scale, "Do-Re-mi, etc.," provided one variable. The possibilities for tone lengths and spaces between the tones, 1, 1/2, 1/8 etc. notes and equivalent rests, provided a second variable. Harmony notes provided additional variables. Mathematically, the permutations were in the billions. That said, a significantly fewer number of permutations would please the ear. However, even a small fraction of a billion possibilities suggests that we have merely scratched the surface of musical composition.

Now, historically there have been very few "unique" ideas. However, as our collective knowledge as a species grows, existing ideas may improve through revision in light of new technologies. The idea for the light-bulb, probably not a "unique" idea, existed for years before the revisions and innovations lended the idea to mass-production and widespread use. The intuitive leaps that translate ideas from the "drawing-board" to "ubiquitous use" deserve a moniker more respectful than "recycling."

In film and literature, some themes recur and some archetypal stories exist in many forms. This does not preclude a "remake" or "interpretation on a theme" from coming closer to "a truth" than a pre-existing version.

Our history as a race of animals with ideas has barely stepped out of the gate. How could we possibly be out of ideas?

Answer 3

it seems so cynical to say that we are running out of ideas. i believe that instead we are not answering old questons yet. there are still some questions out there that are still creating debates and stirring up the intelectual and creative pot. maybe we haven't begin to ask the right questions, which is why we are not getting the right answers or get the right kind of discussion going.
for example (these are all my own, if these turn out to be old, i give up):
medicine; curing allergies by exposing children to as many allergens as possible in their infancy. you know, it might help to build the immune system early. can you just imagine babies being force-smell of flowers and weeds to cure them of hayfever? ok, maybe this sounds a bit cruel...
art&literature: burning all the great artworks and literatures in a great 'bonfire of the vanities' so that we can build the world with new ideas. (sotheby's and other auction houses will have a fit over that one)
stratifying the society based on people's skills in solving sudoku: i sucked at sudoku so i suppose, personally this is a bad idea because i probably would be put in the lowest caste.

well, so far that's all. if i tell you all of my ideas, you would freak out probably. LOL

Answer 4

There is always something else left to discover, to create, to invent, to become.

The vast majority just don't think 'out of the box'.

For example: Marine biologists discover new species daily, they are examined, and drug companies look at them to see what they can do with it.

To prove just how far we have come just since 1900, have a look at the things we have created:

1901 : vacuum cleaner

1902 : air conditioning; automated tea maker

1903 : electrocardiogram; first powered flight

1904 : radar; tea bags; diodes

1905 : plastic; windscreen wipers; silencer for guns

1906 : radio broadcasting

1907 : electric washing machine

1908 : coffee filter; water coolers; paper cups; assembly line production

1910 : neon lamps

1911 : stenotype machines

1913 : Ecstasy; Brillo pads; crossword puzzles; bras; zips

1916 : sonar

1920 : hair dryers; kiss-proof lipstick; submachine guns

1921 : robots; insulin

1922 : Aga cooker

1923 : hearing aids

1924 : frozen food

1925 : Geiger counter; television

1926 : liquid fuel rocket; pop-up toaster; aerosol sprays

1927 : ‘Talkies’ at the movies

1928 : iron lung; penicillin

1929 : artificial life

1930 : jet engine; mechanical toothbrushes; Scotch tape

1931 : electric razor

1932 : radio telescope; parking meter; folding wheelchair

1933 : electron microscope; angle-poise lamp

1934 : cats eyes

1935 : electric guitar

1936 : sun tan lotion; electric blanket

1938 : ballpoint pen; photocopying

1939 : helicopters; cloud seeding to trigger rain

1942 : first nuclear reactor built; Napalm

1943 : aqualung

1944 : kidney dialysis machine

1946 : microwave ovens; automation; Bikini; Tupperware; Tupperware Parties

1947 : transistors; holograms; artificial intelligence; disposable nappy; mobile phones

1948 : frisbees; velcro; general purpose computers; contact lenses

1950 : credit cards; self-cleaning house; junction transistor

1951 : contraceptive pill; Tetrapak cartons of milk

1952 : wide-screen cinema

1953 : transistor radio

1954 : solar cell; synthesiser

1955 : hovercraft; atomic clock; polio vaccine; structurally modified antibiotics

1956 : video tape recorder

1957 : satellite; endoscope

1958 : video games; microchip; modems

1959 : car seat belts

1960 : cardiac pacemaker; laser

1961 : Man in Space; Valium

1963 : lava lamp

1964 : computer mouse; miniskirt

1965 : optical disc; bay buggy; HTML

1966 : kevlar; fibre optics; pocket television

1967 : portable calculator

1968 : biometrics; Workmate; artificial heart

1969 : the Internet; cash dispenser

1970 : LED and LCD’s

1971 : floppy disc

1972 : Prozac; disposable lighter

1973 : genetic engineering; barcodes; post-it-note; car airbags

1975 : personal computer; laser printer

1977 : In vitro fertilisation; MRI scanner; inkjet printer

1979 : first personal stereo

1980 : abortion pill; Hepatitis B vaccine

1981 : scanning tunnelling microscope

1986 : high temperature superconductor

1987 : disposable contact lenses

1989 : World Wide Web

Answer 5

You are right about the world recycling old ideas, but it would be too quick to assume that the world is running out of ideas. It's through the recycling of ideas that we truly generate better and more brilliant ideas than before.

If you are thinking along the line of fashion and entertainment, I guess we are really getting desperate. Does RETRO ring a bell? I feel that fashion and entertainment desperately needs constant new ideas because they are basically money-generating forms of art/s. While these two industries are buying time for revolutionary ideas, they keep revisiting old concepts to keep the money coming in.

Answer 6

I am absolutely sure about that
Paradigms are breaking in any century.
the next paradigm which will change our mind probably fundamentally will come out of human reproduction
or artificial structures which can say " I am"
these will move human beings out of the center of evolution and generate a new philosophy
there is always new stuff which was not thinkable before
who could think before , as an example that something like a network structure (Internet) could be an extension of your memory
all of this is stored in the memory of history named culture
it is developing evolutionary and allows new combinations of information to form new ideas even when a lot of components are the same



( sorry for ma poor English )

Answer 7

I think literature, art and culture always reflects the times in which they appear. Thats what makes the idea of them unique.

Shame in politics though, no one ever learns the lessons from history, when it comes to domestic and foreign policy.

And I wish they'd hurry up and sort out the diminishing fuels problem.

Answer 8

Of course there are a lot, unique or not,it depends on us, as V are the one to decide & make a thing unique, hence there are ideas left in the world for sure, waiting to B discovered.

Answer 9

Yes of course unique ideas are still left in the world, we are all unique aren't we?!
But I agree with lofty550 only unnecessary items are invented now, our society is based on consumption, money and selfishness so who care about new ideas.....

Answer 10

Only time will answer that question. Nobody yet has the power to predict what is to come. Therefore your question cannot be answered. only speculated on. But i for one would like to think there is.

Answer 11

don't say there are no new ideas because you can't think of any
don't say it can't be done just because you can't do it

(i am not picking on you, general statements)

We all know about the pattern office shutdown, because there was nothing new to invent.

Impossible feats: landing on the moon, 4 minute mile.