I would suggest there there is no such thing as an 'original idea'.

Reason:
Everything that I do is a reflection or consequence of everything that I have experienced, learned or read.
Therefore, it is not possible to have an original idea because any idea will be an adaptation or a mix of other ideas.

If you can give me an example of what you think is an original idea, I'd like to try to show how it may have been born from something else.

Get Curious!

Perhaps the big bang as an idea in itself? This is obviously getting rather linguistic, but whatever 'sparked it all off', perhaps, was the one and only original idea from which all things came to pass.

Cue lots of 'God' allegory.

"To run away from danger, instead of facing it, is to deny one's faith in man and God, even one's own self. It were better for one to drown oneself than live to declare such bankruptcy of faith." - Mahatma Gandhi, 1946

I think the particular idea that led to the birth of democracy would be considered original. The idea that there existed a secular soul. In a sense it was a rejection of both 'god' and 'state' but preserved both by default. It promoted a biological capacity to experience the self as part of a bigger picture culminating in 5th century BC Athens.

So...businesses never went into cartels, generals never deliberated with each other over strategy, and neighbours never conversed with each other, before the Athenians thought up democracy?

Seeds were already sewn.

"To run away from danger, instead of facing it, is to deny one's faith in man and God, even one's own self. It were better for one to drown oneself than live to declare such bankruptcy of faith." - Mahatma Gandhi, 1946

You can tell that to the Japanese. They got rich from "no original ideas". Anyway, it has to be original sometimes.

quote:

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Everything that I do is a reflection or consequence of everything that I have experienced, learned or read.
Therefore, it is not possible to have an original idea because any idea will be an adaptation or a mix of other ideas.

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Let's say that human came from ape, chimps or whatever ... you are saying that there is no human - there are only apes?

quote:

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Cue lots of 'God' allegory.

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In this case, I am pretty original. You can check my DNAs.


"Nunc Scio Quit Sit Amor"
But it's still not premarital sex
if you don't plan on getting married

quote:

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Originally posted by Beacon-of-Hope:
So...businesses never went into cartels, generals never deliberated with each other over strategy, and neighbours never conversed with each other, before the Athenians thought up democracy?

Seeds were already sewn.

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Those things are the products of instinct and tradition and you can see them in their primitive form in animal societies, boh.

It was Pericles wonderfully dogged promotion of free trade, which ignited the ideas that personal freedom and equality were untapped forces for good and prosperity. One of these days I intend to read all the orations that exist attributed to Pericles. He's a hottie.

And this is the point where we see the idea of foreign aid take on a meaning not completely steeped in religious or spiritual energy.

This is from Pericles oration at the funeral of mass Athenians killed by the Spartans.

"In doing good, again, we are unlike others; we make our friends by conferring, not by receiving favors. Now he who confers a favor is the firmer friend, because he would rather by kindness keep alive the memory of an obligation; but the recipient is colder in his feelings, because he knows that in requiting another's generosity he will not be winning gratitude but only paying a debt. We alone do good to our neighbors not upon a calculation of interest, but in the confidence of freedom and in a frank and fearless spirit."

You get the general idea. He had his flaws and failings but surely those words give everyone of us a stirring excitement at the whole idea being birthed?? It was so darn original!

I would like to think that an new piece of abstract art is original as is a new melody. Using basic tools to create something never seen or thought of before is an innovation,and is successful if pleasing to those including experts who appreciate the originality of the work, whatever it might be. It could be said that a truly original idea would only be understood by the prime individual as no one else would have a premise upon which to understand it.

It has been said that originality is the art of concealing one's source. Almost nothing is original. The Big Mac hamburger was inspired by the Shoneys's Big Boy hamburger. The Burger King Whopper was insprired by competition for another big hamburger. I am going out on a limb and say that pizza was a rather original idea. Pickled pigs feet was another original idea. The Egg McMuffin at McDonalds was probably inspired by an Eggs Benedict. The Eggs Benedict was inspired by something else. Fried Chitterlings is just another variety of offal offerings.

Today I was conversing with my friend Rufus. He had to bury his father and we were discussing funerals. I told him that I wanted to be cremated and have a lakeside memorial service that inluded an archer's salute (a twelve-arrow salute). He insisted that it was original and asked if I had ever heard of such a salute in real life or myth. I said that I had never heard or read of a salute but I insited it was an idea that I borrowed based on a 21 gun salute. I even told him he could participate in it but he insisted he would kick the bucket before me. (And how would he know such a thing?)

A 12-arrow salute would involve shooting twelve arrows by any combination of three, four or six archers.