The innovation trap
Harish Bhat, who is a friend on Facebook, and posts a lot of interesting stuff, posted about
the flexible e-paper display launch Though I am impressed by the innovation in terms of material use and invention, I still feel that products like this fall into what I call the classic Innovation Trap ( Read more... )
the flexible e-paper display launch Though I am impressed by the innovation in terms of material use and invention, I still feel that products like this fall into what I call the classic Innovation Trap ( Read more... )
Here's a very interesting (as always) talk by the awesome Stephen Fry in that regard (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t9t6r)
As for spacecrafts, the tubular shape makes for some logical explanation I guess. For one, tubular/ laterally narrower objects are easier to propel. Wider base and you have to deal with precise calculations on the exhausts and propulsion systems to stabilize the path. Then there are all the forces acting on the hull. I suppose this is where cylinders are more structurally sound compared to arbitrary shapes. The commonly depicted disc shapes shown in fiction seem a good idea too..
Space being a vacuum is a misnomer. There still is low pressure and the density is very low, but it's still there. It's close to vacuum, but at very high velocities, I think the density would still offer some drag and friction.
That aside, I think in many cases, innovation is more a process of aping what we see around us in nature, and more often than not, building upon existing prototypes. Too radical a change and there's the problem of people not accepting it. Human psychology dictates it's easier to accept something we are familiar with, than the brand new..
Maybe that's the reasoning behind the minimally-different trend in innovation?
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I agree with the rest of what you say...but sometimes a leap into the unknown is needed, and the magic is that occasionally, we have it!
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