Innovation

Innovation seems to be at an all-time low. Most of the new technologies in recent years have been projects that were initiated decades ago. Everything else seems derivative of existing technology. This is an embarrassment for my generation. We have not contributed anything noteworthy.

Take a look at Apple. They are considered to be among the most innovative companies around. They look for emerging technologies, copy, plaster their logo on the product, double their prices, and market like crazy. In all honesty, I can’t think of a single legitimate innovation that has ever come from Apple.

Some people will defend what people like me perceive as lack of innovation. I have heard arguments about how little room is left for innovation. I have also heard that all ideas have to be copied from somewhere else. I don’t buy it. There’s still a lot that we don’t know. There are still a lot of ideas that creative minds can come up with.

I will admit that you will always be able to tie in something that already exists to new ideas. Having basic influences is not the same as copying. I see that in computer and video games. Minecraft popularized a style of game that focuses on procedurally-generated block-based worlds. I would say that Minecraft was an influence on Terraria, but I would also say that Terraria was an original game.

The bad news here is that I feel that copying is more common than innovating. I remember my first exposure to Open Office. They couldn’t get away with using the same icons, but icons were located in the same places as Microsoft Office (although I don’t think Open Office embraced ribbons when Excel introduced their new user interface), and the defaults seemed a little too close. For example, Excel and Calc defaulted with 3 worksheets (That has changed with Excel 2013 now that it defaults with a single worksheet). Personally, I would rather pay for the R&D than get a free clumsy (Java isn’t as efficient) rip-off that will likely always trail in features.

We have room to improve, but we prefer to just copy what already exists. I could tie this to an anti-school rant if I wanted to. Instead, let me just say that we need to start moving forward again rather than continue to stagnate.