I have a problem with 'Invention' !!
I don’t like the word invention simply because according to my theory nothing can be invented and therefore nothing in this world can be owned. Everything that we do is a discovery!! No matter how big or sophisticated it is. Everything is a projection of the human senses controlled by mind.
Dictionary view for invent is : to design or create something such as a machine or process that did not exist before or to develop a new theory, style, or method that did not exist before. In other words you cannot invent anything that already exists before. Fine. Then did our ancestors really know about fire before it was discovered? Then can we call fire to be an invention?
This is my theory. Nothings that we do or create is our idea. We are not born with an idea to create a television or an extra ordinary time machine. On our journey in this world, we see, touch and feel a lot of things which is processed by our mind. Since each person’s mind is different, the interpretations could be many. There are many factors which affect the though process of a mind. They are all external, they are already present. So in other words, can we infer that discoveries lead to discoveries and not an invention?
Lets look at this story. A young man was wondering through a jungle and he finds a caterpillar. He noticed the ring like thing on the body of caterpillar. He noticed how this is allowing the caterpillar to be very flexible. He came back to town with an idea. We installed ring like structure to the commercially available rubber water hoses. This allowed the pipes to be more flexible and strong. You might have come across these green water pipe with rings in between. So should we call this an invention? I mean could this young man own this? Of course he can claim that he was lucky to come across the caterpillar and his mind had lead him to think this way. What if the young man was lost in the woods and he was scared? Would his mind think about how the caterpillar was sophisticated? I don’t think so. Being at right time, right place and right frame of mind is what leads to discovery and not inventions.
The other reason why i don’t want to call anything as invention because you can patent it and own it. I hate the idea of owning discoveries (I don’t want to use the word invention any more). If someone even comes close to making something which is patented then he is pulled to court. Crazy. This leads to stagnation of an idea. An idea should grow as much as it can. It should not be kept in a high security prison called Patents. I mean patents is fine, if and only if it means that this was first discovered by so and so and nothing more. There shouldn’t be monopoly. Monopoly is against free thinking. A discovery needs free mind and patent kills it !!
I am great believer of Open source. More and more clients and companies are moving towards open source software’s because it is more flexible and economical. There is no monopoly. Its free from the prisons of patents, lawsuit and so on. That’s why it’s Free Source.
There are only discoveries in life. Some big, some small. some simple, some sophisticated. Nothing less, nothing more.
