Overlooked Innovations: Shape Changing Toy
This simple, inexpensive educational toy could have been made any time during the past 20 years or even longer. If instead of using silicone it was made from natural rubber or some other natural flexible material, it could have been made thousands of years ago. Unlike the mop in my last overlooked innovation post, this toy was probably not needed in the distant past. Children used to have access to a near infinite range of tactile and visual stimuli. So even though it was possible to make this toy, and their has always been a need for children to learn through multi-sensory experiences, that need was already being satisfied. Only recently when children were denied the ability to freely interact with the world did the need for such toys develop. This is actually a different approach to satisfying two different outcomes, safety and learning. In the past children were made safe by learning about their environment. Today adults attempt to make the children safe by preventing any encounter with potentially dangerous items. This resulted in fewer educational experiences so now that must be provided by alternative means. In the past toys were used to distract very small children who had not yet learned how to keep themselves safe. Toys were a method to allow adults time to do things without directly controlling the children. Today the children are in a highly controlled environment with few real dangers. Toys are still used to distract children but an even better distraction is used, television and video games. All of these approaches are bouncing around the 15 Alternatives for satisfying the outcomes of safety, education, and entertainment.
Benoit Mandelbrot passed away 1924-2010
Benoit Mandelbrot, the mathematician who discovered fractals has passed away at age 85. I owe his genius for some fundamental concepts that make the Predictive Innovation® possible.
Overlooked Innovations: Spin Dry Mop Bucket
The Mopking super spin dry mop uses centrifugal force to remove the water from the mop. This saves work, produces a better result, and is more convenient. This one is powered by a foot pedal but they also make a rechargeable battery powered bucket that can even be used by handicapped people.
This is the first of a new category of articles I’ll be making that reveals overlooked innovations. Even though there was a large need and no technological barriers, this innovation was overlooked for more than 100 years. The primary reason this rather simple but vastly better innovation was overlooked is people had accepted a single paradigm and only made incremental changes. The concept of squeezing a rag to dry it out was passed along to mops and has remained for thousands of years. There are dozens of much better ways of achieving the goals of mopping which have been overlooked. This tendency to focus on one concept then drag it along even when it is clearly only marginally satisfying users applies to every area of life. The Predictive Innovation® helps you break out of that trap.
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