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Ripoff You Say? I Prefer Inspired By.

Caliburnus

Caliburnus

Inactive Member

The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones. - John Maynard Keynes
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Are there any new ideas? In this day and age when we have such a vast source of information at our fingertips can anyone say we have a truly original idea with no overlap? I'm new to the forum and some recent goings on concerning this exact subject made me think even deeper about this subject.

I'm as guilty as anyone. I've drawn on other sources for my own creations and to help me generate ideas. I would like to think that the sum of the parts is original enough to be considered my own creation. Stories, concepts, technologies, theories, etc. tend to draw on history and the experiences of those involved in their creation. We draw on our own experiences after all and we only have our perception and a history that we experience. Such things as technologies evolve because we strive to make improvements. The same goes with your stories. Characters and other story elements improve and become enriched as you come up with great ideas and concepts to incorporate. Technology tends resemble former models but with improvements. This does not detract from the original or the new creation. It shows a progression and a history.

Here is an example. Could prehistoric man come up with the concept of a laser? I'm not saying build a laser or even design one. I'm just asking if he/she could come up with the most basic premise of a weapon that shoots an intense beam of coherent monochromatic light (or other electromagnetic radiation) by stimulated emission of photons from excited atoms or molecules. Just the idea of it. I'm talking about a completely original idea without any inspiration. Maybe they saw lightning or something. Yes... I know lightning is not a laser.

I think it is possible. I don't think it's likely based on how I think. I think that truly original ideas are rare nowadays. There are many more people in the world with many more great ideas and concepts. The internet influences and makes it even harder. We are all very much connected.

In the end this just means there are more great things to read and draw inspiration from. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Just some of my thoughts. What are yours? Are there any truly original ideas?
 
The no original idea argument I've mostly commonly seen takes issue with the fact that all stories share inherent language. Beginning, middle and end. Antagonist, protagonist. Concepts and themes. Its like cooking, almost, with principles on what ingredients to use, how to use them and how much.

Centuries ago, people thought they'd reached the end of history. That no new ideas could be made. No new knowledge could be discovered. It would be then highly misguided to think we could not come up with any new ideas into the future.

We will always tell stories with fundamental similarities because no story, no work of art wether painted, drawn or sculpted will ever exist in a perfect vacuum.

As for Force Awakens, they did need to sell people that Star Wars was back, to earn back trust abused by the Prequels. They used very similar plot beats and tools to that of New Hope for this reason. Because if they did not, you would have hordes of people complaining it was too different and making semi-intellectual videos on youtube about it.

Total originality as some people insist on defining it will not happen, because then every story concept, every idea, every character would need to be something never before even thought of. Its alright to share ingredients with others, so long you make it your own and the story is told well. New ideas will creep in, generation by generation, as we listen to a broader scope of content creators. And once the economic state of story telling is a teensy bit more forgiving of financial failure.
 
Are there any new ideas? : Yes. You just have to show that there is some infinite set in the space of ideas and mathematically you're done and we can all go home. IE: Is there a character of every conceivable size? No? We're done here.

Was Star Wars 7 good? : No. Possibly the worst thing to happen to star wars. While the prequels were bad, they at least were about something and I'll respect a failed attempt to make a good movie more than a successful attempt to make a bad movie. There's a ton of material out there about why too many sequels are bad, and really anything they did was going to step on the ending of episode 6... but at least we got Rouge One which was pretty good.

Could a caveman come up with an idea for a laser? : Yes, pinhole images, shadow figures, ect... there is enough of an understanding of optics that's innate that you could get to the idea of controlling optics fairly easily. Things like lasers, power armor, and giant robots since at least the ancient greeks.
 
*Reads up* screw starwars I want my Cylon War series or a true justice done for World War Z..... but Hollywood...
 
Soban said:
To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.
Click to expand...
The CZ 75 is a combination and refinement of several pistols. The Hi-Power, 1911, Walther P38, Sig Sauer P210. It includes its own refinements and quirks, but it's easy to see its lineage.

The S&W Sigma was a copy of a Glock safe-action pistol. Changes were made, but they were minor and not applicable to the grand scheme of stealing Glock's design.

CZ created a product clearly drawn from existing design while being inspired by what could be. Smith & Wesson created a product that was a hamfisted attempt to steal one design and staunch their police market losses.

Virtually no one calls CZ a thief. S&W has a clear and sustained reputation as one.

Addendum: CZ comes out with the CZ P-10C in 2017. It is inspired by modern Poly Nines, but is clearly using the same mechanisms as Glock's original design. It is arguably the last major firearms manufacturer to produce a striker-fired Poly Nine ... but no one calls them a thief. Something to be said for being last?
 
Doshii Jun said:
The CZ 75 is a combination and refinement of several pistols. The Hi-Power, 1911, Walther P38, Sig Sauer P210. It includes its own refinements and quirks, but it's easy to see its lineage.

The S&W Sigma was a copy of a Glock safe-action pistol. Changes were made, but they were minor and not applicable to the grand scheme of stealing Glock's design.

CZ created a product clearly drawn from existing design while being inspired by what could be. Smith & Wesson created a product that was a hamfisted attempt to steal one design and staunch their police market losses.

Virtually no one calls CZ a thief. S&W has a clear and sustained reputation as one.

Addendum: CZ comes out with the CZ P-10C in 2017. It is inspired by modern Poly Nines, but is clearly using the same mechanisms as Glock's original design. It is arguably the last major firearms manufacturer to produce a striker-fired Poly Nine ... but no one calls them a thief. Something to be said for being last?
Click to expand...

Being last and getting to pick up all the lessons the others had to learn the hard way and produce a good product albeit for a flooded market.
 
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