The little appreciated, but realistic story of innovation is copy and paste, not Eureka! For every prune-skinned genius in a bathtub, there are a ton more copy and pasting. Even bathtub boy does it.
Of course, I’ve explored this in the past, so consider this another pointing finger. Kirby Ferguson has made a set of videos that do a far better job than anything I’ve cobbled together with chicken-wire and manure.
If you care about copyfight issues, make the time to view these things. They’re short; it won’t take long.
Everything is a Remix
Part 1: The Song Remains the Same
This looks at Hip-Hop’s history of sampling; their remixing is a folk-art. But, they weren’t the first musicians accused of being rip-off artists.
The biggest of today’s entertainment hits draw from other sources. In fact, sequels, reboots, and adaptations are most of what we see.
Part 3: The Elements of Creativity
This is old news. All innovation requires copying and pasting. Learn how the modern computer was no different.
Part 4 is Coming
We have to wait for Part 4, but oh well. I won’t add much to this, so let me end by thanking Geeks are Sexy for the pointer.
