Last semester, I was studying abroad in Denmark about Danish Design. On the first day of the class, our professor announced that if someone can create something from nothing, he or she will achieve an automatic A in this class. Basically, that is something impossible, and no one was able to be qualified for that rule, since everything is created based on some ideas appeared before. Especially in Chinese ancient literature, it is a noble rhetoric to merge beautiful lines created by previous authors into one’s own work without notice, and that is called using allusion. So why people still separate words copy-cat and creator if everything is a reuse, transformation, or combination of previous work? I believe the reason is related to how deep one’s own reflection is on the previous works. I would say there are three different levels:
- First one I call it using without understanding. This is the level people usually do the easy copying and plagiarism. Practicers at this level have no or little understanding of the reasoning and logic behind the original work, they just simply take what they feel good.
- Second level is using with good understanding. At this level, the practicer has better understanding of original work’s ideas and objectives. The practicer compare one’s own goal to the original work, and pick out the elements that can enhance the one’s own goal. It is the level how most of the works are done. People transform and combine previous ideas into their own thoughts.
- The third level is hard to achieve, I call this level as understanding and responding. I consider this level as innovation. At this level, the practicer no longer use the same logic as the previous works. With deep understanding of the original idea, the practicer at this level build up one’s own logic and respond to the original idea. The response can be positive or negative, but it need to be in the different logic and aspect from the original one. One needs to build up one's own philosophical believes to achieve this level. This is the level where master pieces happen.
Indeed, we need to stand on the giant’s shoulder, and everything “created” has the shadow from the pass. However, is our life still the same as 10,000 years ago? No, it’s totally different, and that is the result from the cumulation of every tiny originality.
The following paper demonstrates the those different level in the British hovercraft industry
Invention, innovation, re-innovation and the role of the user: A case study of British hovercraft developmenthttp://ac.els-cdn.com/0166497285900124/1-s2.0-0166497285900124-main.pdf?_tid=813d2642-5bbe-11e5-b755-00000aacb35f&acdnat=1442331127_1a55d07d3b1e49724ccb11d2d9a4ff1e
