Week 18- Invent
Invention, using the term most broadly, and imitation, are the two legs, so to call them, on which the human race historically has walked
#1
In Leonardo da Vinci’s words, “Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, simpler or more direct than does nature because in her inventions nothing is lacking, nothing is superfluous.”
The greatest invention of nature, the human brain, who sits like a ruler in this domain of earthlings. Such is its power that it can create the impossible and challenge the inventor herself. They say, necessity is the mother of all inventions. Dire need of something indeed acts like a pushing force for the urge to prove our worth by inventing. Be it engineers inventing a machine, or a biologist inventing a new gene, the need to make a mark in this world, the need to be remembered, forces man to take the pains of creating.
Another flawless creation by an invention, the brain itself, is emotion. Emotions give us the superiority over other beings. The long standing dominance of human race over other animals justifies the dexterity with which it was created. Memories created by emotions that binds us to our roots, make us believe in relations, and protection of our loved ones and forming a family among the fellow beings.
However, sometimes the emotions swirl out of control, they start flowing outside the boundary of humanity .These emotions lead to inventions aiming at mass destruction, wiping out the human race. These satanic inventions scar the very purpose of the word ‘invent’.
We don’t know what the future holds for us, but the best way to predict it is to invent it. A character from Roald Dahl books (picked up from the kid’s section), Willy Wonka, of the chocolate factory rightly said “Invention, my dear friends is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation and 2% butterscotch ripple.” On a similar note, you need to sweat it out to invent something worth the pains you are going to take.
So it is a plea to all the fellow beings, to invent the future in such a way that its bearers might get the chance to live the life we are enjoying at the moment.
-Sayali Upasham (Writer of the Week)
SE, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai.
#2
I had a dream.
Thought about it all the time. The brain was searching for connections to the dream in everything. I tried hard to stop the unnecessary wandering and concentrate on what I did. In the free time I would remove the restrictions.
Gradually, it affected the concentration. Couldn’t do anything else. Was amazed that I typed the thing to find it on the internet. But, no one had the dream before. Irritated.
Slept early, was annoyed by the distraction due to it in the day’s work.
Awake. Fresh. Sunlight peeping through the window glass.
Thinking about the ‘destructive for the routine’ dream. One nerve impulse led to another, and it turned into a thought.
Got up, wrote down everything what I was thinking.
Went on for work.
Came back. Tired. Switched off the lights.
But I could not sleep.
Overwhelmed by the desire to work on the thought. A power flowing through my veins. It’s only satisfied when I was progressing with my ideas.
Was in love with my determination, my work, the late hours with my experiments.
It became a habit.
Every night until innumerable fortnights. But what a waste! Got really frustrated due to zero success.
People around me, whose behavior didn’t matter earlier, started avoiding me. Due to my negligence to ‘important’ work.
Started cursing the night I had that dream. Wished I never dream again.
Again that day worked desperately, but no… useless.
Slammed the door as if to shut the thoughts away.
There was beautiful silence expect the sound of the clock.
“Crank, crank.”
My peace was disturbed. “What now?” cursed under my breath.
“Huh!” was startled on seeing the wheel moving.
Kept staring at the thing… couldn't believe the eyes… the thing… how it can be possible… no!
Pre-checked, checked and checked again… it was true... I had done it!
That feeling rolled down as tears. But I didn't actually feel anything or there were so many feelings that I was not able to feel one. I smiled.
It was a dream.
A thought.
A routine.
Unbearable curiosity.
Pain.
Torture, frustration. Failure.
Even criticism.
It turned out to be an unexpected zeal.
An achievement.
Success
A tribute to passion.
An Invention!
Thought about it all the time. The brain was searching for connections to the dream in everything. I tried hard to stop the unnecessary wandering and concentrate on what I did. In the free time I would remove the restrictions.
Gradually, it affected the concentration. Couldn’t do anything else. Was amazed that I typed the thing to find it on the internet. But, no one had the dream before. Irritated.
Slept early, was annoyed by the distraction due to it in the day’s work.
Awake. Fresh. Sunlight peeping through the window glass.
Thinking about the ‘destructive for the routine’ dream. One nerve impulse led to another, and it turned into a thought.
Got up, wrote down everything what I was thinking.
Went on for work.
Came back. Tired. Switched off the lights.
But I could not sleep.
Overwhelmed by the desire to work on the thought. A power flowing through my veins. It’s only satisfied when I was progressing with my ideas.
Was in love with my determination, my work, the late hours with my experiments.
It became a habit.
Every night until innumerable fortnights. But what a waste! Got really frustrated due to zero success.
People around me, whose behavior didn’t matter earlier, started avoiding me. Due to my negligence to ‘important’ work.
Started cursing the night I had that dream. Wished I never dream again.
Again that day worked desperately, but no… useless.
Slammed the door as if to shut the thoughts away.
There was beautiful silence expect the sound of the clock.
“Crank, crank.”
My peace was disturbed. “What now?” cursed under my breath.
“Huh!” was startled on seeing the wheel moving.
Kept staring at the thing… couldn't believe the eyes… the thing… how it can be possible… no!
Pre-checked, checked and checked again… it was true... I had done it!
That feeling rolled down as tears. But I didn't actually feel anything or there were so many feelings that I was not able to feel one. I smiled.
It was a dream.
A thought.
A routine.
Unbearable curiosity.
Pain.
Torture, frustration. Failure.
Even criticism.
It turned out to be an unexpected zeal.
An achievement.
Success
A tribute to passion.
An Invention!
-Dharini Dutia
SE, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai.
#3
It is essential for an inventor to know the difference between ‘known unknowns’ and the ‘unknown unknowns.’ Rather than getting into a flight of fancy, I would dive into two components essential for any invention. The first indispensable component is imagination. Every individual is endowed with imagination but very few think out of the box. One must have the ability to link unconnected ideas in unlike ways. This vital aspect helps in generating a lot of original concepts. Apart from being good at linking, an individual should question conventional understanding at every turn, while experimenting endlessly in order to collect unpredictable insights from unpredictable results.
The second fundamental component is serendipity which according to Wikipedia is a ‘happy accident’ or ‘pleasant surprise’- that can lead to breakthrough inventions. Be it penicillin, chocolate-chip cookies, potato chips, pacemaker, microwave oven, X-ray machines, etc. were all a consequence of unexpected accidents. But they were not completely the result of chance alone. In every case, the concerned inventor was learned enough to connect an assortment of seemingly unconnected facts together to come up with an important finale. Harnessing serendipity is always a challenge, but not an impossible one.
No article on invention can be complete without mentioning the architect of the light-bulb, Thomas Edison, United States’ most creative inventor, with 2,332 patents to his name globally. He tested thousands of dissimilar materials before discovering that carbon filaments could glow continuously in a vacuum without burning up.
The earth needs more inventors competent of changing for the better the way people live, work and play. Unfortunately, geniuses of Edison’s calibre are in short supply.
-Vivek Venkatram
Founder & Publisher, Scintilla Weekly
SE, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai.
#4#3
It is essential for an inventor to know the difference between ‘known unknowns’ and the ‘unknown unknowns.’ Rather than getting into a flight of fancy, I would dive into two components essential for any invention. The first indispensable component is imagination. Every individual is endowed with imagination but very few think out of the box. One must have the ability to link unconnected ideas in unlike ways. This vital aspect helps in generating a lot of original concepts. Apart from being good at linking, an individual should question conventional understanding at every turn, while experimenting endlessly in order to collect unpredictable insights from unpredictable results.
The second fundamental component is serendipity which according to Wikipedia is a ‘happy accident’ or ‘pleasant surprise’- that can lead to breakthrough inventions. Be it penicillin, chocolate-chip cookies, potato chips, pacemaker, microwave oven, X-ray machines, etc. were all a consequence of unexpected accidents. But they were not completely the result of chance alone. In every case, the concerned inventor was learned enough to connect an assortment of seemingly unconnected facts together to come up with an important finale. Harnessing serendipity is always a challenge, but not an impossible one.
No article on invention can be complete without mentioning the architect of the light-bulb, Thomas Edison, United States’ most creative inventor, with 2,332 patents to his name globally. He tested thousands of dissimilar materials before discovering that carbon filaments could glow continuously in a vacuum without burning up.
The earth needs more inventors competent of changing for the better the way people live, work and play. Unfortunately, geniuses of Edison’s calibre are in short supply.
-Vivek Venkatram
Founder & Publisher, Scintilla Weekly
SE, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai.
A word that has redefined the way we look at our world. As
inventions have rolled by, we've certainly been amazed by its complexity that
lies within the simplicity of the idea. Curiosity is what drives us to create
marvels which could possibly be the technology of tomorrow. I wouldn't say
that every soul out there has got to force you to be curious, it’s just the
zeal and a tinge of enthusiasm to do something that makes a perfect recipe for
an inventor. Some would find the word ‘invent’ as an attribute made for the
smart ones. Hmm... Do you think so?
On that note, let’s talk about the greatest minds that have and will always be the greatest Inventors and re-thinkers of all time; Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. The one common thing between these mega-minds is that they never stop reinventing and researching on smarter, fresher and more efficient ideas for Generation X. Believe me when I say that behind every successful man, there have been bags of rejection, failure and the retribution which in turn projects his true mettle.
Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Inc. who got kicked from his own company due to his stack overflow of ideas (jargon for river of ideas). Then he goes on to make another company named NEXT, for which he devoted his time on research and redesigning concepts. After that Apple Inc. rehires him for his tremendous efforts at NEXT which still remains the foundation upon which Apple Inc. stands on. Now how cool is that! Touch screen displays have always been around since the 80’s but the way Steve rethought the design in a format nobody ever looked at it ever before is the sole fact which fascinates my ecstatic brain.
As we all know, Facebook (the so called standardized social network) was invented by Mark Zuckerberg. He was a college dropout at Harvard but he had the passion and spirit to never back down which intrigued him to embrace the one thing he loved the most i.e. coding. The foundation upon which the Facebook empire stands upon. Hacker, inventor, re-thinker are the words that say all about him and the transition to who he is today can only be described as a wild roller coaster ride. And it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that he continually surprises us by his amazing works of code juggling that result in stupendously new gorgeous, dynamic layouts with a bag pack of new features each year.
And so it isn’t about whether you like something and want to pursue it, it’s about you getting out of your Pandora Box of being an introvert and go show what new and innovative ideas the world could receive from you because you never know, your silly idea could turn out to be tomorrow’s trendsetter.
On that note, let’s talk about the greatest minds that have and will always be the greatest Inventors and re-thinkers of all time; Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. The one common thing between these mega-minds is that they never stop reinventing and researching on smarter, fresher and more efficient ideas for Generation X. Believe me when I say that behind every successful man, there have been bags of rejection, failure and the retribution which in turn projects his true mettle.
Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Inc. who got kicked from his own company due to his stack overflow of ideas (jargon for river of ideas). Then he goes on to make another company named NEXT, for which he devoted his time on research and redesigning concepts. After that Apple Inc. rehires him for his tremendous efforts at NEXT which still remains the foundation upon which Apple Inc. stands on. Now how cool is that! Touch screen displays have always been around since the 80’s but the way Steve rethought the design in a format nobody ever looked at it ever before is the sole fact which fascinates my ecstatic brain.
As we all know, Facebook (the so called standardized social network) was invented by Mark Zuckerberg. He was a college dropout at Harvard but he had the passion and spirit to never back down which intrigued him to embrace the one thing he loved the most i.e. coding. The foundation upon which the Facebook empire stands upon. Hacker, inventor, re-thinker are the words that say all about him and the transition to who he is today can only be described as a wild roller coaster ride. And it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that he continually surprises us by his amazing works of code juggling that result in stupendously new gorgeous, dynamic layouts with a bag pack of new features each year.
And so it isn’t about whether you like something and want to pursue it, it’s about you getting out of your Pandora Box of being an introvert and go show what new and innovative ideas the world could receive from you because you never know, your silly idea could turn out to be tomorrow’s trendsetter.
Curiosity and
Necessity is the mother of all inventions for when curiosity gets high, imagination
starts rolling.
So let’s rethink, invent and stay curious!
In the memory of Steve Jobs, May his soul RIP.
So let’s rethink, invent and stay curious!
In the memory of Steve Jobs, May his soul RIP.
-Emmanuel Francis
SE, SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai.
#5
#5
The term 'invention' means to create something that has not yet been created.
There is a vast difference between invention and discovery. Discovery means to find out an unknown thing that man has not known and then study about it and invention means to create that unknown thing. We never say Newton created gravity but we always say that Newton discovered gravity whereas we never say that Thomas Edison discovered electric bulb, we say he invented it. It is always easy to discover as it just requires finding something that is hidden in some or the other form but it is always hard to invent something new as that requires great talent. To invent we should have the necessity for that thing. If we didn't have the necessity for light during the night, Thomas Edison would have never ever invented the bulb. Hence it is always said that necessity is the mother of all invention. We must all remember that inventions lead to convenience of our lifestyle and therefore we should always be grateful to the inventors for making our life cozy. Today, I am able to write this due to the hard efforts of the inventors in the past.
There is a vast difference between invention and discovery. Discovery means to find out an unknown thing that man has not known and then study about it and invention means to create that unknown thing. We never say Newton created gravity but we always say that Newton discovered gravity whereas we never say that Thomas Edison discovered electric bulb, we say he invented it. It is always easy to discover as it just requires finding something that is hidden in some or the other form but it is always hard to invent something new as that requires great talent. To invent we should have the necessity for that thing. If we didn't have the necessity for light during the night, Thomas Edison would have never ever invented the bulb. Hence it is always said that necessity is the mother of all invention. We must all remember that inventions lead to convenience of our lifestyle and therefore we should always be grateful to the inventors for making our life cozy. Today, I am able to write this due to the hard efforts of the inventors in the past.
-Vignesh Venkatachalam
SIES Graduate School of Technology. Navi Mumbai