The Myth of the Lone Inventor

Codex The Sloth writes "Malcolm Gladwell (who amongst other things, wrote "The Tipping Point") has written an article for the New Yorker claiming that the role of the lone inventor is over. The example of Philo T. Fransworth (the "inventor" of Television) who failed because (amongst other reasons) he didn't have the big resources of a company to allow him to focus on his innovations. The thesis is that it is rare to have a single innovation that makes a product workable and that getting all of the inovations together requires a (large) corporation. No doubt others feel different."

role of the lone inventor is over?

[Anonymous Coward]

role of the lone inventor is over

I don't know, didn't it just take one person to invent the "Sharpie marker CD ripping system"(R).

-DanThe1Man
(err, can't log in)

Many one man inventions still to come...

[sisukapalli1]

Ask the patent office... Things like one-click patent can be accomplished by single individuals easily.

S

In other words

[ObviousGuy]

You're saying the Lone Inventors are dead?

Thanks for spoiling it all Chris!

Re:Lone inventor is immortal

[ObviousGuy]

Alex Chiu is great not because he invented his device alone, but because he stood on the toes of the great.

Re:The Article Is Silly

[caca_phony]

what you all overlook is that there is meta in team. and meat too. and tame. and 'met a'. and a. and ma. and eat. and mat. and mta (mail transfer agent). duh. now I feel dumb.

Moot

[ThoreauHD]

The fact that I'm loggin onto his http with a one man noncorporate sponsored OS, browser, and tcp/ip packet doesn't say alot for his theory.

But what do I know, .. wait- let me ask permission first.. nope, can't tell ya. Sorry, No comment.

Re:COMING SOON - How Americans invented the wheel

[Serial Troller]

Sorry, but unless we can exploit it for our own purposes or bomb it, we're just not interested.

Cheers,
Fat-ass American