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1996, I posted on the AOL Star Trek DS9 forum that the Federation should lay mines in the worm hole. 13yr old me was shocked to see the Federation laying mines

1996, I posted on the AOL Star Trek DS9 forum that the Federation should lay mines in the worm hole. 13yr old me was shocked to see the Federation laying mines in the worm hole a year later. :D

qikInNdOutReply 3y ago
Omega molecule bomb borg space! Build a firewall around that section of the universe. Let that hegemonizing swarm burn itself out while trapped in jello.
goodcanadian 3y ago
One thing I have learned in life is that there is no such thing as an original idea. Ideas have their time. If it is truly a good idea (and even if it is not), someone has already thought of it. That doesn't mean we shouldn't credit people for the idea, but at the same time, just because you thought of it, doesn't mean that is where the final product came from.
- screye 3y ago
  I've seen this up close during my time in ML research. I'd often jokingly mention an idea, only for someone to get a state-of-the-art paper out of the exact same idea within a year of that. It annoyed me at first, but with time, I realized that this was a rather familiar occurrence. Many top labs are tight-lipped even when talking about peripheral topics, because so many of their peers are within months of reaching the same answer, and even the smallest hint might lead to a peer getting there first. My conversations with top researchers indicate that all research in ML is about 'getting there first' rather than producing something that requires a mythical epiphany. It does take away from the glamor of it a little bit. If Salieri had been months away from composing Mozart's best work himself, that would have taken away from the timelessness of his work.
  - DoreenMichele 3y ago
    My recollection is that at least two other people came up with the idea of evolution around the same time. Charles Darwin got credit for it for whatever reason, but it seems likely the world was at a point where the pieces were there and just needed to be put together and several people did put it together but only one got credit for it.
    - screye 3y ago
      The one that blow my mind the most was the simultaneous invention of calculus. Modern Calculus can be reasonably thought of as the most important mathematical leap forward of the last 1000 years. If there was ever an invention that can be considered a piece of unquestionable genius, then that's calculus. And somehow, it was simultaneously invented by 2 different people within a few years of each other. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz%E2%80%93Newton_calculus_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz%E2%80%93Newton_calculu...
- morisy 3y ago
  For a while, when I came up with a really clever, original one-liner, I'd search Twitter history and find that it had already been made dozens of times. Worse, we started a business and scoured around, looking to see if anyone had ever tried it. A little over a year in, we realize someone else had started it, two years before us, but with slightly different terminology. Fortunately, but we're both still around and kicking over a decade later, though with a good understanding now of why not many other folks had tried it.
  - failrate 3y ago
    This happens to me every time I release a new game. Some combination of zeitgeist and Baader-Meinhoff means that I will see basically the same thing released at basically the same time, usually a better implementation.
  - D-Coder 3y ago
    Yep. A friend was discussing how her cat loved to be with her 100% of the time, but when she took a shower, the cat was distressed. In a moment of cleverness, I suggested the obvious solution: a cat raincoat. Then I searched the web and found lots of cat raincoats.
- jaredhallen 3y ago
  Calculus, Newton, and Leibniz is another example.
- waterhouse 3y ago
  Feast your brain on this Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_multiple_discoveries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_multiple_discoveries It is really amazing to see how many discoveries and inventions I've heard of were independently made by two or more people within a few years of each other.
djur 3y ago
These days, there are showrunners who would have changed the plot because "someone online guessed it".
- McGlockenshire 3y ago
  > These days The DS9 folks have outright said that they've not done things because people assumed or guessed online. The first one that springs to mind is Eddington. > Although "The Adversary" shows Eddington was misidentified as a Changeling, public opinion nevertheless became wary that he was a member of that species, to the puzzlement of the DS9 staff writers. Stated Ira Behr, "After 'The Adversary', everyone on the Internet was convinced that Eddington was a changeling, even though we went out of our way to show that he wasn't. We all looked at each other and said, 'There's no way this guy is ever gonna be a changeling!'" Behr laughed. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. 253)) https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Michael_Eddington https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Michael_Eddington
  - djur 3y ago
    That's not quite what I'm talking about. They never planned to make Eddington a changeling in the first place. But I retract my comment regardless. "These days" comments are lazy thinking.

1996, I posted on the AOL Star Trek DS9 forum that the Federation should lay mines in the worm hole. 13yr old me was shocked to see the Federation laying mines in the worm hole a year later. :D

qikInNdOutReply 3y ago

Omega molecule bomb borg space! Build a firewall around that section of the universe. Let that hegemonizing swarm burn itself out while trapped in jello.

goodcanadian 3y ago

One thing I have learned in life is that there is no such thing as an original idea. Ideas have their time. If it is truly a good idea (and even if it is not), someone has already thought of it. That doesn't mean we shouldn't credit people for the idea, but at the same time, just because you thought of it, doesn't mean that is where the final product came from.

screye 3y ago
I've seen this up close during my time in ML research. I'd often jokingly mention an idea, only for someone to get a state-of-the-art paper out of the exact same idea within a year of that. It annoyed me at first, but with time, I realized that this was a rather familiar occurrence. Many top labs are tight-lipped even when talking about peripheral topics, because so many of their peers are within months of reaching the same answer, and even the smallest hint might lead to a peer getting there first. My conversations with top researchers indicate that all research in ML is about 'getting there first' rather than producing something that requires a mythical epiphany. It does take away from the glamor of it a little bit. If Salieri had been months away from composing Mozart's best work himself, that would have taken away from the timelessness of his work.
- DoreenMichele 3y ago
  My recollection is that at least two other people came up with the idea of evolution around the same time. Charles Darwin got credit for it for whatever reason, but it seems likely the world was at a point where the pieces were there and just needed to be put together and several people did put it together but only one got credit for it.
  - screye 3y ago
    The one that blow my mind the most was the simultaneous invention of calculus. Modern Calculus can be reasonably thought of as the most important mathematical leap forward of the last 1000 years. If there was ever an invention that can be considered a piece of unquestionable genius, then that's calculus. And somehow, it was simultaneously invented by 2 different people within a few years of each other. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz%E2%80%93Newton_calculus_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz%E2%80%93Newton_calculu...
morisy 3y ago
For a while, when I came up with a really clever, original one-liner, I'd search Twitter history and find that it had already been made dozens of times. Worse, we started a business and scoured around, looking to see if anyone had ever tried it. A little over a year in, we realize someone else had started it, two years before us, but with slightly different terminology. Fortunately, but we're both still around and kicking over a decade later, though with a good understanding now of why not many other folks had tried it.
- failrate 3y ago
  This happens to me every time I release a new game. Some combination of zeitgeist and Baader-Meinhoff means that I will see basically the same thing released at basically the same time, usually a better implementation.
- D-Coder 3y ago
  Yep. A friend was discussing how her cat loved to be with her 100% of the time, but when she took a shower, the cat was distressed. In a moment of cleverness, I suggested the obvious solution: a cat raincoat. Then I searched the web and found lots of cat raincoats.
jaredhallen 3y ago
Calculus, Newton, and Leibniz is another example.
waterhouse 3y ago
Feast your brain on this Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_multiple_discoveries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_multiple_discoveries It is really amazing to see how many discoveries and inventions I've heard of were independently made by two or more people within a few years of each other.

djur 3y ago

These days, there are showrunners who would have changed the plot because "someone online guessed it".

McGlockenshire 3y ago
> These days The DS9 folks have outright said that they've not done things because people assumed or guessed online. The first one that springs to mind is Eddington. > Although "The Adversary" shows Eddington was misidentified as a Changeling, public opinion nevertheless became wary that he was a member of that species, to the puzzlement of the DS9 staff writers. Stated Ira Behr, "After 'The Adversary', everyone on the Internet was convinced that Eddington was a changeling, even though we went out of our way to show that he wasn't. We all looked at each other and said, 'There's no way this guy is ever gonna be a changeling!'" Behr laughed. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. 253)) https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Michael_Eddington https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Michael_Eddington
- djur 3y ago
  That's not quite what I'm talking about. They never planned to make Eddington a changeling in the first place. But I retract my comment regardless. "These days" comments are lazy thinking.