I once sat on a plane at Phoenix airport waiting to return home at the end of a business trip.  The pilot announced that our flight was delayed due to a problem with the flaps, a detail which qualified as TMI (i.e., “too much information”) judging from the anxiety it caused among the passengers.  Those of us on the left side of the plane had a front-row view as an aircraft mechanic climbed a ladder, examined the wing, and produced what looked to be a roll of silver duct tape.  As word of this spread through the cabin, there was a palpable increase in that anxiety.

I later learned that the mechanic was applying a very specialized aviation tape which is commonly used for repairs like this one.  The constraints of time and money associated with modern air travel necessitate some creative solutions, and the industry has responded.  Necessity, as Plato is thought to have said, is the mother of invention.

A literal translation of Plato’s Republic (375 BC) reads “our need will be the real creator” which somehow never caught on.  The more familiar “Necessity is the mother of invention” did not, as some believe, originate with Frank Zappa, who changed the name of his sixties rock band – The Mothers – out of necessity (his record company demanded it).  History tells us that the phrase was coined in 1658 by Richard Franck  – long before rock music – and was later attributed to Plato.  Regardless of who said it first, the idea that human creativity forges connections between seemingly disparate facts, bringing forth new and innovative ideas, is ageless. (read more)