What makes an idea or a thought unique? Among the billions of people on this planet, each experiencing different lives, emotions and sensations, can any idea at this point be considered truly original? Sure, innovations and inventions still exist, but any thought the brain creates is inevitably derived or aided by things you already know. For example, try to imagine a completely unique animal. Try as you might, your mind will piece together a creature that, while creative or fantastical, likely draws from many creatures that already exist. Perhaps it has the legs of a camel, wings like a beetle, and the ears of a cat. While your animal is new and novel, it is not original. Therefore, if objectively unique ideas cannot be made, we must then redefine the term of what should count as "unique". It could be argued that originality is created whenever an old item or way of thinking is revamped or spun into something new. Perhaps the easiest way of defining it would be as whenever a new combination of thoughts, ideas and perspectives are put together. Books for instance, fall into distinct genres. Each has its own tropes, popular plotlines, or ideas. But a new writer can still combine two genres. They can take an amalgamation of their own thoughts and experiences and pour them into their work to create a finished project that carries resemblances or undertones of other books, but is still uniquely their own. That is the true meaning of originality: to take existing concepts, infuse them with your own experiences and perspective on life, and refresh them into something you can call your own.
Thing 1
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