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The Originality Myth
Ideas, we assume, are generated in the mind of one individual and brought to life by that same individual's effort. When we tell stories about a new invention, we assume that its creator is entirely responsible for dreaming up the device as a complete whole. We like to believe that each new idea is as unique as its creator's brain, fingerprint, or genetic code, and have a tendency to remember a creative idea or innovation as the product of one person or one company. We want our ideas to be seen as unique and wholly original; therefore, others' ideas must also have been as unique. This is the Originality Myth—the faulty belief that we would not have a given creation without its single creator and that the creator's idea ...
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