New Ideas Needed Please - Merryn's Blog

A teacher of mine once said that there are no original ideas anymore; it is all just new and different expressions of the same idea.  So a smart phone is just a new expression of 2 tin cans and a piece of string. An ipod is a new expression of a pianola. A car a new and different  expression of a horse and cart. She said that in the early 90’s; before I had a computer at home.  Before having access to ‘ideas’ at my fingertips.  We all know we live in the age of the information revolution.  We all can find anything we need to know about anything with a search and a click.  So are we just re-imagining the same things or is there room for something really new?

I am loving hearing so many stories about young people re-imagining their worlds; coming up with amazing inventions that solve a problem.   Here’s a couple of my favs:

A 13 year old boy in Massai invents a solution to lion attacks of cattle:

http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_turere_a_peace_treaty_with_the_lions.html

Next is this one on possible sources of power…I’m not sure of the science behind this, but I love the concept:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7oMIR_MoH0

As the information age blooms and we are re-aligning our priorities towards new expressions that prioritise communities and connection over material things – well hopefully - I wonder if we are allowing the possibilities of re-creating a platform where we can grow completely new/original  ideas?  Have we reached an evolutionary stage that could possibly prove my teacher wrong?  I for one would like to think that there is renewed potential for original ideas – things that we have never thought of; concepts that we have not even dreamt of. Unless we can imagine a brand new world with brand new ideas, are we doomed to the same same?  Capitalism, so-called democracy and a money lead society is clearly not working. As Einstein said “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them”

 Bring on the new ideas...please!

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