DocAndersen
What we often ask ourselves do I do with this part? We all know the one I am speaking of. That one part that we have from putting something together that is left over. We look at the part for some time trying to figure out if we made a mistake or if in the process of putting the new thing into the box they carelessly including one extra part. That isn’t as bad as nearing the end of the project only to find one part missing.
An innovator doesn’t see it as one piece short for them that is an opportunity to solve a problem creatively. An innovator doesn’t see it as one part too many either. They see that as the start of a new adventure, and they already have the first part in hand.
I have worked with innovators for many years. Each of them has a unique footprint and leaves behind a unique mark on the world. The two largest US-based crowdfunding site (there are many more in the US and throughout the world) Kickstarter and Indiegogo have hundreds of them often lurking waiting for the right moment.
Based on that lurking and then sudden appearance there was a conversation online about driving innovation. It was as much about the workings of innovation and the why of why people innovate. At the end out of that conversation and several hours spent considering the aspects of innovation was born Andersen’s law of innovation and its corollaries.
The initial conversation began with a discussion of Percy Blythe Shelley’s great poem Ozymandias. In particular, the conversation focused on the meaning of the poem:
Ozymandias[1]
I met a traveler from an antique landWho said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stoneStand in the desert. Near them on the sand,Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frownAnd wrinkled lip and sneer of cold commandTell that its sculptor well those passions readWhich yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.And on the pedestal, these words appear:`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!’Nothing beside remains. Round the decayOf that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,The lone and level sands stretch far away”.
[1] Ozymandias a poem by Percy Blythe Shelley
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Question of
Do you find there are some poems that resonate in your life?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Edison and Tesla had a fued as innovators, did you know that?
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No
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Edison had a patent for everything, even stuff he didn’t create. Tesla couldn’t get a patent for anything…
Tesla actually did get a couple of patents, but unlike Edison he could never monetize the patents.
Later they became extremely valuable, but they were community by then.
Edison’s best friend was Henry Ford. Edison helped ford write the patent that covers any iteration of flying cars.
That patent is still valid.
how is that even possible, since the device used to float the car isn’t even… nevermind. stupid patents…
People always think Patent trolls were invented in the 1990’s, at the time Edison was the very first, back in 1900. He saw the value of having and holding patents.
Ford patented the application of airplane engines (non-specific) as a method to raise the car off the ground to fly.
As far as I know, magnets strong enough to lift a car, require something underneath them.
even the hoverboards need a track under them. otherwise, how would you generate the field?
I forgot those 🙂 Man I loved the back tot he future movies. I need to find that DVD and watch them again.
2015 was a huge disappointment to fans of the sequel
2015 was a bad year, all around even for those not a fan of the sequel.
Sometimes you have to wonder…
why the populace allows it to happen? they’re jaded
probably.
The easy answer is usually the right one.
easy is the problem. Herodotus knew that easy living leads to soft citizens. he wrote that at least three different times in his Histories…
Innovators need a lot of time for inventions. It’s not easy. First of all, there must be an idea and then the realization of this idea.
That truly is the crux of the pain of innovation. The idea to paper, paper to real. It can be a hard journey.
It takes a lot of trial and error as well as determination to reach your goals.
I always love the Edison quote. When asked “you failed more than 450 times when inventing the lightbulb, why?” (paraphrase). Edison looked at the reporter and said “I never failed, I just found 450 ways that didn’t work.”
Your post touched a lot of very curious questions!!! To my mind, it’s so interesting & dangerous at the same time to live in the era of great human inventions.
That is very true, thank you so much!
But also people like Tesla and Edison made mistakes … I did not know this, but she was just a man
Edison felt most of Tesla’s inventions were wrong. In fact, some of the stuff Tesla created we still use today. Tesla actually worked for Edison originally, and then Edison did everything he could to drive Tesla out of business.
In the end, DC (Direct Current) was Edison’s dream. You cannot distribute DC as far as AC. Tesla believed alternating current was the future.
Tesla was right but it took 30 years.
Thank you for your efforts to explain to me so nicely and precisely … I really did not know … one more thank you thanks, dear Doc
Tesla has long been a hero of mine. Edison got all the credit, but Tesla has ideas that changed the world,
When we were still under Yugoslavia, he was my cousin
that is a cool connection 🙂
He was born in Croatia……….
That I knew, his time working for Edison was a difficult time for him.
Good informative article , Thank you for sharing
THanks for the comment! Hopefully you are having a great day.
I believe most inventors have to spend large amounts of uninterrupted time, but I don’t know why I believe it!
It took Edison 450 = attempts to invent the lightbulb.