Review of Everything is a Remix – Episodes 3 and 4

Ideas transform over time. 

In the last half of the short series Everything is a Remix, we learn about the basic elements of creativity and how things truly come into existence. 

Ideas are built from one another, and to hold an idea captive and say it’s yours is protected by law, but not always clear or helpful. 

The basic steps to cultivating creativity start with copying, yes, copying, as you have to learn how to do something before you can create your own, as noted previously many of the most successful people have done this. The next step is to transform that is, make it look unique, the the last is to combine, see how your ideas work with previous ones and how you can put together elements in a way that’s never been done before. 

A great example shared in the series is the story of the personal computer (PC). Turns out it started with Xerox. Yes the people who tend to be known for the fax machines, and printers. You see, they created the first computer, it just wasn’t commercial or particularly user friendly. That’s where Apple’s Macintosh comes in, and makes the PC user friendly and ready for commercial selling. 

The series also touches on the fact that many inventions have had many discoveries, and sometimes at the same time. This is because often an idea is ready for discovery because all the elements are brought into existence, that is to say, sometimes ideas just need an assembler. 

One of the last things mentioned in the series is “When we copy we justify it when others copy us we vilify it.” I think this is interesting to consider, it shows our hypocrisy within creating, and how sometimes sharing privileges may be abused. Personally, as of right now I think there is still some value in protecting ideas, but the legal protection has been abused.  To add to this, ideas aren’t often separate little thoughts they’re often more of a web, and that’s only where the trouble starts.

Ideas are changed, reshaped, combined, and remixed over time. It’s how some of the best ideas come to be. So go out there and, respectfully and graciously, copy, but then put your own twist on it, combine it with another element, and show what else the world has to offer.