The Wealth of Recylcing

     So I've pondered the why of sequels, peering ever deeper in their murky depths, and have found that the only real conclusion to their unending proliferation and popularity stems from their ability to appeal to the instant-gratification crowd, knee-jerk reactions expected by audiences who understand the marketing, presentation and movie itself are there to cater to the largest base of people possible, namely by broadening the average movie to reach the average person.  I began to try and apply this methodology to simply reproduce a proven system or method to various forms of entertainment.  I found it is not only the cost effectiveness of reproducing or recreated already given concepts that drives companies and producers to inexorably rehash old ideas, but this almost cannibalistic nature of adding minor "newness" to already prolific forms has become not only an industrial norm, but a necessity.

 

     Consider the telephone.  I was remembering the good ol' days when I'd call up my friend Alexander Graham Bell.  Seems he had a pretty good invention, and getting it patented was one of the most valuable ideas of all time.  Nowadays we have an overabundance of need for situational and useless modifications such as speed-dial and call-forwarding, caller ID and voice-mail, conference options, etc.  I just find it funny that we call modern phones "smart phones" as if Bell's idea was stupid.  Now our phones are essentially pocket PCs, with all the esoteric bells and whistles.  Perhaps I'm getting to off-topic.  But the idea of patents existing is to receive credit for the invention of a new device, but now, in our over saturation of consumerism, it's become necessary for companies to rip each other off simply to survive.  When Apple released the iPad it was mere months before most other mobile communication companies had their supplemental version; from the bevy of computer tablets after it, and even the PC stylus-operated pads that predated the iPad, the idea of building a slightly reworked alternative to another inventor's original seems to be a staple of almost all consumer products, various forms of entertainment, not withstanding.

     We have reached the point where, at least technologically, we have so many facets and immeasurable depths of overly-complex language of hardware and syntax of software, that it's nigh-impossible to not entirely clone the work of another inventor and moderately modify it into whatever recycled newness we may muster.