What Makes an Idea Good?
Early in the comedy film "Office Space," we see several characters talking about the drudgery of working in a jungle of cubicles. One of the older employees, who has been working in these types of companies for far longer than the protagonists that are in their twenties and thirties states, "You know there are people in this world that don't have to put up with all this shit?" He then goes on to state that the best way to escape working a 9-to-5 job would be to come up with a product and make a ton of money off of it. His perfect example of such a product is, of all things, the pet rock.
One of the younger employees then says skeptically, "You think the pet rock was a really great idea?"
And the veteran employee then says, "Sure it was. The guy made a million dollars."
This scene made me think about, "What makes an idea great?" I suppose an idea which generates a lot of money for the inventor and investors could be considered a great idea. I'm sure that the inventor of the pet rock and any other investors for the product made a fair amount off of the fad. Any workers that were hired to put together these pet rocks also made some money, although certainly didn't become rich from it. And anyone who bought pet rocks probably got at least a small amount of initial joy.
But I feel that there is a hierarchy of good ideas. Ideas on par with the pet rock are probably at the bottom of the totem pole of good ideas. Higher up would be ideas like the light bulb, computers, and modern day medicine. These would be ideas that not only generate money for the inventors but significantly change the lives of the consumers for the better.
There are probably also lots of bad ideas that made money for people. Many wars throughout history have been fought not in the name of justice and freedom, but for power and money. So even if a war annihilates thousands of people but makes insane profits for a relative few, is that a good idea? This isn't limited to war by any means, but also to investments and banking (like in the film "The Big Short," which was very much based upon real events).
There have also been plenty of good ideas that have changed the world that didn't make any profit for their creators. Superman is one of the most iconic characters of all time, and influenced the direction of superhero stories and comic books in general. But Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who created Superman, barely made any money off of the idea, and were pretty much cheated by DC Comics. Unfortunately this isn't an uncommon tale.
So does making money automatically make an idea good? Not necessarily. It's certainly a factor of course. For better or worse everyone needs money. I'm certainly not exempt; I need money to pay for things like rent and food and anything else needed in my day to day life, and if I were a multimillionaire who made his fortune from a great idea, there have been plenty of jobs on my resume that I would not have done. But there's certainly a hierarchy of ideas, and how they affect the greater world (hopefully for the better) also affects how high up they are on said hierarchy.
One of the younger employees then says skeptically, "You think the pet rock was a really great idea?"
And the veteran employee then says, "Sure it was. The guy made a million dollars."
This scene made me think about, "What makes an idea great?" I suppose an idea which generates a lot of money for the inventor and investors could be considered a great idea. I'm sure that the inventor of the pet rock and any other investors for the product made a fair amount off of the fad. Any workers that were hired to put together these pet rocks also made some money, although certainly didn't become rich from it. And anyone who bought pet rocks probably got at least a small amount of initial joy.
But I feel that there is a hierarchy of good ideas. Ideas on par with the pet rock are probably at the bottom of the totem pole of good ideas. Higher up would be ideas like the light bulb, computers, and modern day medicine. These would be ideas that not only generate money for the inventors but significantly change the lives of the consumers for the better.
There are probably also lots of bad ideas that made money for people. Many wars throughout history have been fought not in the name of justice and freedom, but for power and money. So even if a war annihilates thousands of people but makes insane profits for a relative few, is that a good idea? This isn't limited to war by any means, but also to investments and banking (like in the film "The Big Short," which was very much based upon real events).
There have also been plenty of good ideas that have changed the world that didn't make any profit for their creators. Superman is one of the most iconic characters of all time, and influenced the direction of superhero stories and comic books in general. But Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who created Superman, barely made any money off of the idea, and were pretty much cheated by DC Comics. Unfortunately this isn't an uncommon tale.
So does making money automatically make an idea good? Not necessarily. It's certainly a factor of course. For better or worse everyone needs money. I'm certainly not exempt; I need money to pay for things like rent and food and anything else needed in my day to day life, and if I were a multimillionaire who made his fortune from a great idea, there have been plenty of jobs on my resume that I would not have done. But there's certainly a hierarchy of ideas, and how they affect the greater world (hopefully for the better) also affects how high up they are on said hierarchy.
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