economic invention27 There Are a Million Things Waiting to Be Invented

Are the latest inventions the last of their kind? Are we reaching a peak in inventiveness, or even passing it? It isn’t likely.You may have heard he story that in 1899 the head of the U.S. Patent Office urged President McKinley to close the office because “everything that could be invented has been invented.” Even President Reagan told the story in a speech. It is actually an urban myth, believed only because it has been repeated so often. But it does suggest the question: “How many things can still be invented?”An infinite number is the correct answer in my mind. Anyone equipped with a few creative thinking techniques could come up with a dozen new types of chairs in a couple hours. They may be inventions only on paper, but multiply this times the number of possible items that can be reinvented and if only a small percentage of them are marketable… Well, you get the idea.Then there are the things that have never yet existed. More than just innovations or improvement of existing things, these are entirely new inventions. For example, I recently received a gift from… More >>