Are any ideas really original?

[Mymar]

I've been thinking a lot about this as I get back into writing music. I've studied music all my life, and if you know the composers teachers, you can always hear that influence even if it is just in the background.  So, what constitutes an original idea?

[Inkidu]

No such animal. You'll drive yourself nuts. I tend to focus on making my things fun and well-written.

[Beguile's Mistress]

It's hard to come up with original ideas.  I know.  I've tried.  Now I just look for ways to tell the story wth a fresh eye toward manipulating the plot. :-)

[Mikem]

Nothing's really original anymore. The core is always the same, what differs is your manipulation of it. Think of it like touching something. A ball represents all known literary elements in our civilization, and when you touch it you leave your fingerprints on it. Those fingerprints may be different than someone else's, but they're all still on the same object. (I have no idea how well I came across with that analogy..)

Ideas may have been original thousands of years ago, but not anymore. Though, not unless Humanity suddenly grasps a concept previously incomprehensible, then that'd be new and thus, original. Like say, a new form of energy production previously never imagined. That'd be new. Though then again, the idea of energy production itself isn't new.

[Asphodel Terrarium]

Innovation is mostly about copying and getting those ideas floating around and putting them together and making it better. In a way, there are no original ideas.

[alextaylor]

Nope! Every idea you have, someone else has it.

In fact, we have a saying in investor circles - why is this the right time for this idea? Ideas exist a long time - flights to Mars, giant robots, video chat. But what makes an idea actually possible?

Most ideas usually evolve from another. All innovation is an improvement. We create new things through iteration. A 'fresh' idea, like the iPhone, is simply something that has gone through multiple iterations quietly, before released to the public.

[HannibalBarca]

What I ask myself now is, not is it original?, but is it good?  There are a multitude of, say, adventure stories with the archetypes of the young hero, the wise teacher, the descent into the cave, and so on...but the ones that engage us, get an emotional response from us, and make us think...ah, there's the rub.