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Actually no.
Realistically, I was never going to capitalize on the idea anyway. but on top of that if someone else has already had the idea and it’s at least mildly successful then boom: automatic validation that it was a good idea.deleted by creator
Fuckin assholes stole my idea and had it patented 30 years before I was born!
“What do you mean a double gyroscopic core self-rectifying monorail was built in 1962?! Thats impossible…”
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I meant this more as a thing that happened to me, rather than ain direct reference to the post.
I had a super cool idea the other day, but of course it’s been patented and not explored furtherp
I had the idea for Hyperloop when I was 12. Elon too, but he has the track record where he could convince people he could actually build it.
Time out it’s not a very good idea though.
What’s worse is when you have an idea, don’t have any idea how to pursue it because you’re not a professional [career] and don’t have experience making whatever it is; and then you see a successful paper or product months or years later about that exact same idea, made by someone who actually knows what they’re doing.
It’s frustrating yet validating. Frustrating because, “that could have been me”, validating because “I thought of the idea before it’d been developed too! I’m so smart.”
I should start keeping a list of times when that happens. If I had a nickel for every time it happened, I’d have 2~3 nickels; which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it’s happened two or three times now.
I don’t want to take away from your joy and validation. You sound like a generally curious person who is frequently churning out ideas.
But that’s not how ideas (for doing experiments/doing research) work. Especially not in a scientific context. You have to have intimate knowledge of any matter to sift through a huge amount of various ideas and pluck out the ones that are feasible, that make sense and that are promising. That takes time and effort. Curiosity is obviously key, but actually pursuing any idea means a lot of work. It’s much more frustrating than one might think, especially because it usually doesn’t work the way you initially imagine it will. And most of these ideas need many years, or even decades to develop and study.
Yes, I’m very aware of everything you just said. Doesn’t mean it isn’t frustrating to find out that an idea you had was a good idea, but you couldn’t study it because you don’t know enough about the subject. I love science and engineering, but I didn’t find that out until after I graduated and I don’t have the money to “respec”.
I once was in the mirror with some dental floss trying to get at a stuck piece of romaine lettuce. When I finally dislodged it, instead of coming out of my mouth with the floss, it decided to sit on the front of my tooth.
As I’m ineffectively swiping at it with the floss I get an idea: what if I had a bunch of pieces of floss, instead of just one… And if I made them stiffer, it’d be easier to just get in there and swipe things off the sides of my teeth… Like a little mouth broom… Or a toothbrush! …I’m an idiot.
Context for us uneducated?
Step 1. Have an idea
Step 2. Google idea
Step 3. Someone thought of it before you were born
Even worse if you think your idea is just the best darn thing to come along since sliced bread. And then Dr. 1995 comes along and lays out the whole thing in a footnote in a paper on a different topic.
Which most likely is written in much more detail than you ever could do.
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