Duell’s Theorem

“Everything that can be invented has been invented.”
Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.

This quotation is likely an urban legend.It is still around purely for its comedy value. However, with a small amendment, it can become rather relevant, perhaps relevant enough to be titled. For the purpose of this post, I will call this amended version Duell’s Theorem, and it goes like this:

“Everything that can be invented will be invented.”
Mal McKay, Random Person, Internet, 2005.

Every so often I will have a good idea. Sometimes I will even have a Great Idea. (But never a Brilliant Idea, or even just a Useful Idea. ed.) I’d assume I’ve been having these ideas for quite some time, but over the past year I’ve noticed a trend, especially with internet related ideas, and it’s been striking enough to warrant a corollary to the above theorem:

“Everything that can be invented on the Internet will be invented, and soon.”
A Little Voice, The Back of Mal’s Head, 2006.

That’s right, any idea I may have will happen, and happen soon, and likely happen without me.

This concept leads to quite a commentary on the current pace of technological advance, the reach of an internet meme, the commonality of our internet experience, the ease of publishing your software and even the definition of software. It’s all in a post I’ve been idly working on. Not this post, mind you. This post is the briefest summary of that post to be, and is only with you today because it’s happened again.

The idea in question isn’t particularly momentous, definitely not on the same scale as the Yahoo! trip planner morale buster. To perfectly honest, it is only similar to some of the rationale behind my similar idea. As such, you would assume that it hardly warrants a posting, especially when I have to use up a partially formed future post to preface it. However it is a clear reminder of Mal’s corollary to Duell’s Theorem.

On the internet, ideas wait for no one.

So there you go. If I have something better to say about this I might post again. What matters is that I posted now.

If you missed it, the idea in question is described in this blog post. It’s simple enough, basically saying that people should maintain a list of their upcoming post ideas in the sidebar of their blog. It’s partially an acknowledgement that blogs post have become more produced.

Once I figure a domain name (reallygoodr.com is probably taken) , I’ll debuted my take on this notion, with beta signup to follow in a couple weeks.

UPDATE: wridea is closer. Their IdeaRain is very similar in concept to my favorite feature of this aforementioned idea. Owie