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Musings over originality...

"Originality does not mean thinking something that was never thought before; it means putting old ideas together in new ways." The word Originality has a wealth of meaning behind it. It refers to something which is original i.e. new, different or unusual. Something that has never been seen or heard off before. At the same time it also refers to something that is a result of independent thinking. Thus originality of thought or work is two fold. It can be a completely new idea, theory, machine, system, etc. It can also be a new inference or interpretation of the existing idea or theory. It can be the combination of 2 or more systems/machines to give a new system which helps us solve problems related to the previous systems or those which are completely different. Thus, originality is both: the thinking of new ideas as well as putting together existing ideas to get something different.
At the same time one must note that putting together old ideas may or may not give things that are new. For example there is no point in putting together all the theories in the world in the world in order to prove "two times two gives four" or "the world is round". Originality is when, we get new ideas or inferences from existing ideas and thoughts.

Nearly everything thing in this world is derived from some existing conclusions and facts. Without those facts one cannot come up with something new. At the same time coming up with something new, independent of any previous knowledge or idea is originality as well. Think back for instance the originality of the early man who discovered fire with out the help of any previous knowledge or idea. It might have been a simple accident, but it was original for him, as he had never seen it before. There have have been so many instances when two different scientists came up with the same theories and ideas at the same time but were worlds apart. In such cases both their works have to be considered original as they did it independently.

Nothing in this world is new. Everything is present and waiting to be discovered or invented. It can be done by digging a hole or rearranging a machine. What spells originality though is that which the masses have never seen before. What is original for us Humans may not be so for another species. This is the crux of the matter. Charles Babbage's originality lied in coming up with the difference engine, arguably the world's first computer. Intel's originality lies in coming up with a computer architecture which out performs other architectures. The difference engine was an idea waiting to be thought up by someone. As it was finally a chain of thought which led to the idea of the difference engine. But, at the same time it was something new and original. It was extremely different than any other machine of those times. That is what gives it the tag of originality. Intel however will come up with a new and improved architecture by studying the present architectures and not by coming out with a totally new concept all together. It will still receive a tag of originality as it will come out with the fastest running architecture of its time.

Thus originality of an idea can be decided only if it is different or unheard of before. It does not matter if the idea was independent of any previous knowledge or if it was derived from old ideas or thoughts.