In this article Cohen sounds awfully surprised that consumers can innovate just as readily as producers; the revelation comes as a result of a Mr. Daniel Reetz (who works at Disney Research) built a scanner that could scan a 400-page book in 20 minutes without breaking the book's spine. To quote a well-paraphrased movie line (from the recent movie Iron Man), Mr. Reetz built his scanner "In his garage, with scraps!" Now, he might not have built it in his garage (he might not even have one), but the point remians the same: using junk he found in dumpsters he built his scanner. Following this industrial-grade scanner build, he posted a 79-step guide online and now roughly a mille of people has joined his forum, and 50 of them have followed in his footsteps. The cost of building it himself? Accordingly, $300, versus the $10,000 he would have to spend to buy one from a company.
Frankly, the whole article exudes an air of surprise that any person, no matter how humble, can innovate. I do not know if I can express in words just how ridiculous a notion this is (that only paid professionals can innovate). Yet apparently, (according to Cohen, mind you), the whole economic-legal-business district of life operates under this very assumption.
For goodness's sake we are human beings! What sets us apart from the rest of the natural world is our ability to make tools and connect the dots! Why is that so surprising?
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