# Invention **Domain:** Science / Technology / Creativity **Doc Type:** Concept Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition **Invention is the creation of a novel device, method, system, or arrangement that converts observation and imagination into usable capability.** ## Mechanism and Practice Invention begins where established answers end. Curiosity, uncertainty, natural patterns, accumulated knowledge, and practical experimentation combine until a possibility becomes operational. ## Relationships [[wiki/Innovation|Innovation]] · [[wiki/Creativity|Creativity]] · [[wiki/Scientific Literacy|Scientific Literacy]] ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > “New knowledge comes from the willingness to say “I don’t know.” Stepping beyond what is already established into uncertainty and possibility is where new ideas, disciplines, and inventions are born.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Environmental Conditioning and the Path to Self-Actualization - Livestream (Sep 2016)* [[reminders/Innovation/New Knowledge Begins With I Do Not Know by Bryant McGill|New Knowledge Begins With I Do Not Know by Bryant McGill]] > “Intelligence also flows from the inanimate back into the animate. Studying atoms, elements, and the designs of nature extracts the knowledge folded into them and brings it alive in human minds. That knowledge is then folded again into new inventions, completing the cycle.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *The Ultimate Christmas Gift of Returning Yourself to Yourself - Livestream (Dec 2015)* [[reminders/Innovation/Knowledge Folded Into Nature Becomes Invention by Bryant McGill|Knowledge Folded Into Nature Becomes Invention by Bryant McGill]] > "You know, Bret, I think one thing to really think about is that all civilization wealth — draw the box very big — it all comes from invention. Six thousand years ago, somebody invented the plough. And then the steam engine. We all got wealthier. That cycle has continued. What we want to do is speed that up. Speed up the rate of invention. So use AI to make physical things. We're going to make the tools so easy to use that anyone will be able to be an engineer." > **— Jeff Bezos**, *Fox News interview with Bret Baier, October 7, 2026* [[reminders/Innovation/AI Can Accelerate Invention Until Anyone Can Be an Engineer by Jeff Bezos|AI Can Accelerate Invention Until Anyone Can Be an Engineer by Jeff Bezos]] > "What happens is speculators can lose money because they're investing in all of these things. But the inventions don't disappear when the bubble pops. So if you take the biotech bubble in the '90s, investors lost money, speculators in this new technology. Many of them lost money. The life-saving drugs that were made continued on and saved lives. If you look at all the fiber optic cable that got laid in the internet bubble, thousands of miles of fiber optic cable got laid. Many of the companies that laid that fiber optic cable got into financial trouble and the bubble popped and they went out of business. But the fiber optic cable didn't go away. We're still benefiting from it today." > **— Jeff Bezos**, *Fox News interview with Bret Baier, October 7, 2026* [[reminders/Innovation/Inventions Survive the Bubbles That Finance Them by Jeff Bezos|Inventions Survive the Bubbles That Finance Them by Jeff Bezos]]