There are no “original” ideas anymore, novel ideas are derived from ideas which already exist, they are derivative. This idea of derivatality is beautifully explained in an NPR episode, the link is at the end of this post. Here, I want to elaborate on the importance and benefit of being proud of our own derivatality.

Let’s call things what they really are

It is important to recognize that the new form of originality is indeed derivatality. So “new” ideas maybe shouldn’t be called original ideas to avoid confusion and avoid the conflict that can ensue when the term “original” is used. When something is called “original” we give the credit of that thing or idea to the person who said it or did it first. However, in the world today it is very unlikely to come across an idea or thing that is truly original and we don’t want to take credit away from the truly original idea or thing.

Is it creative if it isn’t “original”?

Creativity and originality are not the same things. You don’t need to be original for your ideas to be creative, even if the opposite is not true (i.e. you really do need to be creative for your idea to be original). This is sort of like how every square is a rectangle, but not every rectangle is a square (if you don’t believe me, look here).

Creativity is something that shouldn’t be criticized. However, by calling an idea derivative, it can come off as a criticism. For some reason, we see the term “derivative” as negative or less than (even though in the world of math, this is not the definition of derivative). However, a creative idea is still creative regardless of it being derivative or not. Originality in the world these days simply does not exist, all of our ideas come from the influence of our experiences and our experiences are made up of things that already exist, usually. The things we see and learn, hear and smell and feel all influence our ideas and shape the way we see the world. So originality, today,  could be defined as a creative way to derive a thing or idea from something original. However, it might be less confusing if we simply use a new term for today’s originality. Originality, today, is derivatality. 

It is good to be derivative

Derivatality improves the world because big and complex problems can only be solved with creative solutions, not original solutions anymore because “original” does not exist. This was one of the many things Albert Einstein taught us when he said,

“the significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.”

I appreciate how in this quote, Einstein says “same level” rather than “same way” because this word choice hints at derivatality. The level of a way of thinking can be improved by adding to it, by building upon the way of thinking that already exists.

Derivatality, requires a great deal of creativity and effort because it involves looking at something that already exists and works and finding a way to optimize it. This optimization is often achieved by combining that thing with another compatible thing. An example would be a smart TV, which is a traditional television combined with internet and interactive web features that allow for video streaming. The television already existed and so did internet and interactive web features, but before the smart TV, it was necessary to attach a laptop to a television with an HDMI cable to stream youtube on the bigger screen.

The smart TV is not really an “original idea”. Instead, it is two, or more, original ideas put together to optimize one or all of the ideas. It can be challenging to understand what things are compatible with each other, especially as the complexity of the thing increases (side note: stay tuned for a post on compatibility). However, despite the challenge of establishing compatibility, we save time overall when we focus on derivative ideas because we are building on effective tools that we already have, rather than reinventing the wheel.

Be proud of your derivatality

If you agree with what was written above, you should realize that in today’s world originality is more accurately derivatality. You might agree that derivatality is effective and useful, I hope you do. It is creative and necessary for solving complex problems. I invite you to take pride in your derivatality. To be proud to say, “this idea was inspired by TED, but I made the connection between TED and Einstein”.

This post was inspired by TED Radio Hour: Is Everything a Remix