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> "everything that can be invented has been invented." - Charles H. Duell, Commissioner of US patent office in 1899 It tends to appear this way to those with l
by jcoffland 10y ago
> "everything that can be invented has been invented." - Charles H. Duell, Commissioner of US patent office in 1899
It tends to appear this way to those with little imagination.
- DonaldFisk 10y agoAccording to the Wikipedia page about him (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Holland_Duell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Holland_Duell), which provides references to the original sources, the quote is bogus. See also http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/22779.html http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/22779.html
- jcoffland 10y agoOK, how about "The advancement of the arts, from year to year, taxes our credulity and seems to presage the arrival of that period when human improvement must end." -- Patent Office Commissioner, Henry Ellsworth to Congress in 1843. My point was that this impression is human nature and thus suspect.
- DonaldFisk 10y agoThat quotation is accurate, but apparently taken out of context. See http://www.ideafinder.com/guest/archives/wow-duell.htm http://www.ideafinder.com/guest/archives/wow-duell.htm "But Commissioner Ellsworth was simply using a bit of rhetorical flourish to emphasize the growing number of patents as presented in the rest of the report. He even outlined specific areas in which he expected patent activity to increase in the future."