With the tech-world changing and developing so rapidly around us, it’s nice to look back at where it all started. Bob Metcalfe’s visit to Mass Communication Week at Texas State took us back to a time where information was never thought of in terms the Internet, the web, or advanced search engines. He truly had to think beyond existing technology to create what he created and that’s what it will take for the next great idea of our generation to happen.I enjoyed Metcafe’s story of ingenuity and perseverance, but his ideas on innovation are what had the greatest impact on me. His metaphor of “invention is a flower, innovation in a weed,” has never been truer than it is today. To see his full quote regarding this idea, read this article. The increased availability to technology today gives everyone the tools to change archaic systems and create new ways of preforming simple tasks. Innovation is a weed that keeps evolving more rapidly as one innovation makes another more possible. To add to his idea, it seems that innovation itself can flower into invention. In other words, several great innovations could lead to one ultimate game changing invention. Metcalfe also points out that we don’t necessarily need one great, game changing invention, rather we just need to improve and prefect what already exists.
No one could see that Metcalfe's contribution of the Ethernet was an outstanding invention in its infantile stages, but further innovation in other realms of computer networking and data transfer made his idea more and more relevant to the world. Metcalfe, like Steve Jobs, truly possesses the ability to peek into the future, and make something today that will mean something tomorrow. I think it's great that he came and shared his views on innovation with us and that he does so on a weekly basis with his students at UT. With people like Metcalfe constantly challenging the minds of others to think forward when it comes to technology, our world will continue to benefit from innovation.
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