There’s 7.4 billion people in the world and counting. There’s bound to be repetition somewhere. Will dwindling originality soon become a problem in the future?
Ever have the idea run through your head that you think is original, but then you immediately realize that someone’s probably, no definitely, already thought up something similar already?
To tell you the truth, I’m no stranger to this idea. As I sit in my nice cozy room with a heater turned on to fend off encroaching frostiness of the New Jersey winter and type out this article, I sometimes wonder if there’s someone out there doing something identical under the exact same circumstances.
Getting at the heart of the issue, there’s a finite number of words in the English language, but an arguably infinite number of ways to use them. Given the range of grammatical, social, and cultural restrictions, is originality in language and in innovation finally coming under threat with the prospect of a rapidly growing population?
If you have a smartphone, you’ve probably noticed the predictive feature for words as you type them — the words you use on an everyday basis in conversation are so common that a machine…
