small improvements are really engineering
The beginning point of creative design is the firm grasp of the obvious. Left and right shoes are hardly more than 100 years old. The differences were always there, but cobblers used to cut both soles from the same pattern. In engineering design the most obvious point is to avoid trying to do the impossible, when a physical law sets insurmountable limits. Darwinists would do well to take this point to heart.
One doesn’t obtain patents and receive prizes for making small improvements in existing designs. If one desires a new product with new capabilities one must make intellectual leaps. One needs inspiration, the creative spark. A long series of small changes seldom leads to anything novel enough to patent. A new design incorporating many small improvements can help a product dominate the market for a time. But a competitor who invents a new way of accomplishing an old task may rapidly draw away all the customers.
One doesn’t obtain patents and receive prizes for making small improvements in existing designs. If one desires a new product with new capabilities one must make intellectual leaps. One needs inspiration, the creative spark. A long series of small changes seldom leads to anything novel enough to patent. A new design incorporating many small improvements can help a product dominate the market for a time. But a competitor who invents a new way of accomplishing an old task may rapidly draw away all the customers.
