The Art and Science of Copying
Copy-Modify-Paste :: The Timelessly Yet Untold Model Behind All Remarkable Inventions and Innovations In Human History
Growing up I've come to learn that the only world where copying is stigmatized and regarded a crime is the exam and test world.
Other than that, copying is the natural order of life -- some call it innovation, competition, invention, etc but they are all one way or the other attributed to copying, which is normal.
Copying is an art and a skill, highly predominant in business, tech and the startup ecosystem.
If you are not a strategic copy-cat, you will be pushed out of the market just like Apple and Samsung did to Blackberry and Nokia.
This is one of the secrets behind Silicon Valley's prominence as the leading tech hub in the world -- they've mastered the art and science of "Copy - Modify - and Paste".
They attract talents from all walks of life, buy or copy working or emerging ideas from different countries and markets like Japan, China, South Korea, England, Africa etc then modify and innovate on it with these highly concentrated talents of theirs and resell to us as a finished product.
There are only, but a handful of companies in Silicon Valley and California at large that have not been sued by individuals or organisations for intellectual property theft.
Other tech hub following these footsteps are Shenzhen of China, Tel Aviv of Israel, India and Canada.
I believe that whatever idea one has today is an idea that has been conceded by at least 1% of the population of people on earth, and some even years earlier, while some are already working on it when you had the idea.
The ones who first started the project may not be the one who will be credited for the project based on several factors ranging from economic, political, cultural, geographical etc. The other person(s) or group who nurtured the idea also but have not started can decide to build from where the previous person started, and will have a better chance of success than the first, then take all the credits because the first person was not known.
This is how invention and innovation has emerged over the years -- "Copying - Modifying - and Pasting".
What many of us regard as invention or discovery is actually a more advanced effort on a previously existing concept.
While the Whyte Brothers are being credited for creating the first aeroplane, Gliders, Hot-air balloon and the kite systems etc already existed of which Sir George Cayley, Otto Lilienthal were key players.
While Douglas Engelbart and his team at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) are being credited for inventing the mouse, I Will like to let you know that it was actually copied from a pointing device concept called 'Trackball' by a British scientist named Ralph Benjamin and used during the World War II by the military for controlling radar systems. If you read on it you will see how similar it is to the modern computer mouse, both of them were pointing devices used to control a cursor on a screen.
Funny how Xerox of Palo Alto Research Centre are credited as the foremost inventors of GUI, something that was already in existence lol. They just advanced on it and made it even more intuitive and user-friendly.
The late Steve Jobs of Apple Computers and his team then stole the Macintosh and Lisa XL computer concept from Xerox when they visited the PARC lab, including the GUI and mouse.
Bill Gates and his friends, fellow co-founders of Microsoft stole the Windows OS idea from both Apple and Xerox to create the previous Microsoft Basic which was the prominent operating system at the time. Licensing rights of their operating systems to many emerging computer manufacturers then who did not have sufficient software engineers to build competitive operating systems like that of Apple, Xerox and IBM made them an authority in the OS and software market.
Their first operating system which was used in IBM Computers then was even bought, and they built on it and incorporated it with other ideas they’ve kpabbed lol.
Let's not even talk of our landlord here - oga Mark Zuckerberg and how he grabbed and ran away with the idea of Facebook from the original owners; two twins who were members of a prominent club in Harvard University.
Even until today, the Ancient of Days is still doing wonders.
How about the incandescent lamp? Funny how 90% of people don't even know that Thomas Edison does not go anywhere near the invention of bulb or incandescent lamp, he was just a premiering face that improved on it and made it more reliable, hence giving us a more commercially viable option like what OpenAI is doing with the GPT technology today.
It is the base upon which modern lamps were built, but it's also important we know that people like Sir Humphry Davy and Sir Warren de la Rue had developed incandescent lamps almost a decade earlier.
Whenever I see nursery and primary school children sing a rhyme about the invention of electricity by Michael Faraday, I do feel sorry for the original premiere of it, who are not even recognized by an average adult, and if I had never read a book on them, I wouldn't have known too.
No doubt that Faraday's groundbreaking discovery of electromagnetic induction is the foundation upon which electric generators were invented, including power transformer which he introduced but it's also paramount we at least reference people like Alessandro Volta who invented the first chemical battery known as the voltaic pile, which provided a stable source of direct current (DC) electricity.
Even before him, static electricity from shocks, sparks etc has already been discovered centuries before. All these dates back to decades before Faraday came into the picture.
So in all of these what I'm I trying to insinuate? I'm saying that copying is not bad, in short it's a skill that needs to be acquired, and if you have the chance of copying or kpabbing an idea, you should do it with your full chest supposed you will improve and innovate on it. That's what great men do.
If I visit you, any idea you don't want me to kpab and take credit for, it's better you hide it except I'm not interested in it at all, else na explanation go be your surname. Lol I'm not kidding though.
Disclaimer: If them catch you copying and sue you for intellectual property theft, abeg no reference this article cause I no send you. You go explain tire. 😅
Let me point you to this quote from Steve Jobs - "Good artist copy, great artist steal"
This was why I later changed my perspective about Chef Dammi during the Hilda-Cookathon hype. Even though her copying approach was terribly poor, her perspective aligns with my current view of life today.
If a noodles factory is opened in an area and they are selling 100k carton of noodles monthly, I will open mine just opposite theirs, increase the quantity and quality, give freebies, give guarantee and warranty, increase my advertising and marketing strategy and take a chunk or even all of the 100k unit of sales they make monthly.
Owners or lovers of the company may hate me all they care, but I’ve initiated an air of competition, innovation and alternative options which will make the other manufacturers up their game.
Again - copying is an art and a science, it's the mother behind all innovations.
Do with this information what you will as a dev, students, or just an easy going person trying to find a path.
Good Luck to you as you try to bring that idea of yours into life. Solving problems is the goal, and whatever idea you've concealed, original or copied, know I'm rooting for you. 💪