The digital world in which we now live has mostly evolved and changed through time, from connecting to gadgets only when necessary to remaining always linked to one or more types of devices where there is a constant flow of information and content. As the web of digital space started expanding, there were more opportunities for connecting with the world, sending and receiving information in any format. With time there were more applications and software that facilitated human engagement with the technology. It was almost next to impossible to engage in something that did not have technology involved be it art, music, stories, or any sort of entertainment. It became easier to share one’s own or others’ thoughts, creations, writings, etc. in a digital space. So, at a time when technology had become widely accessible to a large portion of the global population, two things happened: one, it became difficult to track an individuals through their work, and two, people no longer cared about the legitimacy of the stuff they found on the internet. Although there is a mechanism to copyright one’s own work, which should prevent it from being duplicated, this does not protect all types of material from all types of copying. Hence, I think digital space has made the concept of originality ambiguous. The notion of originality may have many different interpretations and meanings. Even if we look back to the time periods before the digital era, the idea of originality was constantly questioned by thinkers and philosophers. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the earliest documented usage of the word “originality” was in 1742. “All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Philosophically, an idea is a metaphysical entity that has equal chances of occurring to human beings as we share the same origin in all respect, the idea is also something that is expressed through language which again is a common entity for human beings hence, originality in the idea of creation was seen as something impossible. “Art is theft.” – Pablo Picasso example; “A work of art that has not received from others nor one that has been duplicated based on the work of others,” is a common definition of an original piece of art and consider if it is conceivable for someone today to have not ‘received’ some type of influence from watching art, or to have not consciously or subconsciously ‘copied’ the style of previous works. Originality does not exist in that sense. Consider any vocation in the arts or sciences. The civilizations, languages, and names of characters in J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic The Lord of the Rings have origins in many ancient peoples, notably the Norse. The Romans modelled their baths after those of the Greeks. A mathematician might come up with a solution, but all of the components and variables were already in place. A young child who grew up in a village where there was no engineers, would never even think of becoming one as he doesn’t even know such a profession exits, As a result, it is possible to conclude that originality is non-existent, at least for humans. It is not a basic characteristic of human nature. Human being by nature are evolved to learn by imitating behaviors that they observe. “What is originality? Undetected plagiarism.” – William Ralph Inge.
Now in this digital era, a mass crowd is exposed to almost similar kinds of information and content through television, smartphones, and apps like Instagram, Twitter, and others that have become incredibly innovative in the digital arena. An important thing to notice is not everyone who uses these digital platforms comes up with their own unique ideas; instead, they duplicate or draw inspiration from others’ work. It may be difficult to distinguish between imitation and inspired work; the line between the two is often hazy, especially in the broad, dynamic, and creative digital world. In other circumstances, there may be two original ideas that appear to be the same but were made available online at two distinct times; for example, person A has created a movie in a certain way with his own unique frames and angles, and there is already a movie by person B (which A was unaware of) with very similar angles and frames. Here whose work do we currently consider “original”? Do we refer to B’s work as original because he was the first to create it, or do we refer to A’s work as original because he claims to be the first to come up with the concept? As a result, not only in the digital sphere but in general, the concept of originality is elusive. Although some world-changing ideas evolve over time, the bulk of the original notions arise in little steps and it is possible that someone else came up with the idea before. Someone else’s ideas, on the other hand, are unique to that individual if they are ignorant about the fact that anybody else has thought of them. However, there can be some fundamental differences between taking inspiration from work and imitating the same. Being inspired happens subconsciously whereas when you imitate, you tend to focus solely on what the other person has done. Inspiration can be from the least of things and there aren’t any limitations to our imaginations whereas there just isn’t any room for innovation when you imitate. When a person is strong in the foundation of what he’s working on, he can explore various possibilities and have new ideas that can shape up to something amazing. People generally tend to imitate when they lookout for a shortcut to success rather than putting in the effort and being patient with their progress.
Today’s Social media is a very good example wherein people are lured to momentary moments of pleasure when they imitate stuff that has gone viral, but would that last? It seldom does. Originality stems from one’s own self whereas when you copy you tend to lose your uniqueness. Most of the popular people on social media are trend followers but not trendsetters, many kinds of music these days are created even without musical instruments just with a help of an Ipad we still call it original but if we think from an authentic music standpoint, I have my doubts if or not to even consider it as music. Like I had mentioned before, people are exposed to the same “trend” that’s on internet and are trying to recreate the same content to a large extent. This been going on for years now, an individual might not be able to even think of novel ideas rather would always keep an existing work as reference. Therefore in this digital era, being “original” can be very challenging and with reference to the present trends and scenarios in the digital world I believe all the works to a great extent are already an imitation or inspired work from a pre-exiting “original” work, this might be a conscious or subconscious results of increased exposure to free flowing information, contents and idea in the still evolving digital era.
“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery – celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from – it’s where you take them to.” [MovieMaker Magazine #53 – Winter, January 22, 2004 ]” ― Jim Jarmusch
