The prompt says -
Is it always better to be original than to imitate or use the ideas of other?
Supposedly, one should never use any one else’s idea and should always come up with something original. However, there are numerous examples in history that show otherwise. Development always takes place incrementally. Thus to ensure development, it is imperative to reuse old ideas and improve upon them. If everyone tries to come up with something new, what we would have is a sea of half baked ideas none of which would have been refined enough to achieve excellence. The examples of Mark Zuckenberg and Bhaghat Singh illustrate this point wonderfully.
Mark Zuckenberg, the founder of Facebook is one of the world’ youngest millionaires. Thus, it is perfectly acceptable to say that he has achieved success. Mark Zuckenberg, started his journey towards success not with originality but rather imitation combined with exempelary execution. When he came up with the idea of Facebook, several other social teleworking sites like Myspace, Orkut and AOL where already in existence. Myspace was actually doing quite well. If Mark had tried to come up with something new instead of improving upon these existing websites, the world would not have been able to experience the social revolution that Facebook galvanized.
If Mark Zuckenberg had blindly pursued originality, the consequences would not have been nearly as disastrous as they were in the case of the Indian General Bhaghat Singh. Bhaghat Singh was a general during the 1940 War of Independence which was fought in India. He was a accomplished general and had led his battalion to victory several times in the past. However, during the Jallianwalla Bhagh massacre that took place in Amritsar, India on 24th of July, 1940, his adulation for originality ultimately led to his and his battalion’s death. On that day, the enemy’s forces had surrounded the city and were going to open fire. The precedent in such situations was to barricade the city and wait for the enemy’s supplies to run out. Unfortunately, Bhaghat wanted to come up with an original plan instead. he decided to take his forces out during the night and attack with the element of surprise. However,he was unable to anticipate the large number of night guards that would be on duty. His forces were easily defeated. Thus, his love for originality led to his death and well as the death of all the soldiers who were under him.
These examples show that making use of someone else’s excellent ideas and improving upon them is indeed much better than coming up with something new that is mediocre.