The value of an idea is dependent on what Stuart Kauffman may call ‘Adjacent Possibilities’. Imagine someone has an idea for a film, a paragraph long “Elevator Pitch” which has the perfect starring role for Danny DeVito. The idea becomes more and more valuable the closer within six degrees of separation anyone with that idea is to DeVito. If I have such an idea, it’s worthless because I have no means of getting it to him.
Likewise, imagine someone has a perfect model for a electronic fuel injection system in Ancient Greece, but just the injection system. That’s virtually worthless in the absence of resources like refined petroleum, internal combustion engines (I’m not sure if they even had the metallurgical skills to cast engine blocks) and most importantly—the compelling business or defensive case to persuade those with the resources to risk developing that infrastructure.
However ideas, especially in the early babbling/brainstorming phases are malleable, an idea for a film that may have once suited Jerry Lewis may be well suited to Eddie Murphy or Jim Carrey because they possess certain similar qualities. Which begs the question of the integrity or identity of an idea and when is one idea different from another?
The question of identity is perhaps less important than the question of value, which is simply a matter of adjacent possibilities.
The value of an idea is dependent on what Stuart Kauffman may call ‘Adjacent Possibilities’. Imagine someone has an idea for a film, a paragraph long “Elevator Pitch” which has the perfect starring role for Danny DeVito. The idea becomes more and more valuable the closer within six degrees of separation anyone with that idea is to DeVito. If I have such an idea, it’s worthless because I have no means of getting it to him.
Likewise, imagine someone has a perfect model for a electronic fuel injection system in Ancient Greece, but just the injection system. That’s virtually worthless in the absence of resources like refined petroleum, internal combustion engines (I’m not sure if they even had the metallurgical skills to cast engine blocks) and most importantly—the compelling business or defensive case to persuade those with the resources to risk developing that infrastructure.
However ideas, especially in the early babbling/brainstorming phases are malleable, an idea for a film that may have once suited Jerry Lewis may be well suited to Eddie Murphy or Jim Carrey because they possess certain similar qualities. Which begs the question of the integrity or identity of an idea and when is one idea different from another?
The question of identity is perhaps less important than the question of value, which is simply a matter of adjacent possibilities.