Necessity first mothered invention. Now invention has little ones of her own, and they look just like grandma.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Invention originally solved practical problems, but now creates new ones that resemble the old difficulties.
- In plain terms
- New inventions often create problems similar to the ones they were meant to fix.
- What can you take from it?
- Solutions can sometimes create new complications.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Does this invention solve or create problems?
- Are new solutions just old problems in disguise?
Another view
Not all inventions create new problems; some genuinely improve life.
More from E. B. (Elwyn Brooks) White
Advertisers are the interpreters of our dreams - Joseph interpreting for Pharaoh. Like the movies, they infect the routine futility of our days with purposeful…
Permalink to quote #4 There is a decivilizing bug somewhere at work; unconsciously persons of stern worth, by not resenting and resisting the small indignities of the times, are pre…
Permalink to quote #6 I have occasionally had the exquisite thrill of putting my finger on a little capsule of truth, and heard it give the faint squeak of mortality under my pressu…
Permalink to quote #3
Related quotes
History is more or less bunk. It's tradition. We don't want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker's damn is the…
Henry FordHenry Ford quote #1 'There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.'
Ken OlsenKen Olsen quote #1 Mr. Watson - Come here - I want to see you.
Alexander Graham BellAlexander Graham Bell quote #1