Comment Invention: isn't it always singular (Score 1) 297
I personally think most ideas occur in a singular person's mind. Others around him can instigate it, refine it, criticize it etc. But the formation of an idea seems like an atomic congnitive process.
Oh, and the thing about big corporations inventing most things is that individuals in these companies come up with most of the ideas many times in isolation. The reasons for multiple names in patent applications has got more to do with social and manegerial influence than anything else. I work for _big company_ and most worth while ideas have been those that people work on by themselves after work, not the assignements their managers hand them. Even my VP says so!
Hence, I dont buy the thesis that individual inventor is dead.
Oh, and the thing about big corporations inventing most things is that individuals in these companies come up with most of the ideas many times in isolation. The reasons for multiple names in patent applications has got more to do with social and manegerial influence than anything else. I work for _big company_ and most worth while ideas have been those that people work on by themselves after work, not the assignements their managers hand them. Even my VP says so!
Hence, I dont buy the thesis that individual inventor is dead.
