Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Share The Things They Thought They 'Invented' But Actually Already Existed

People Share The Things They Thought They 'Invented' But Actually Already Existed

You ever have a stroke of genius where you think "Wow, how am I not a successful inventor?"

Followed shortly thereafter by the realization, "I am not a genius, I just invented pleather."


Sometimes our brains miss the very last step of logic that reminds us this thing we thought we invented already exists. In those brief, shining moments where we believe ourselves to be geniuses, we see a world of possibilities ahead of us.

Immediately after, we see a world where everybody has already thought of everything.

u/jacklandors92 asked:

What have you accidentally "invented" in your mind before you realized it already exists in the world in some form?

Here were some of those answers.


A Shield By Any Other Name

Giphy

I was thinking about ways to defend yourself from attack. Started out with a shield and thought "what if we go bigger?"

Tower shield?

Let's go bigger.

Shield that protects 180 degrees of your body.

Let's go bigger.

Shield that protects a full 360 degrees.

That's cumbersome.

What if we could fit it to your body?

Armour. That's armour. Nevermind.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cwo4ut...

Flipbook

If you put pictures along a subway wall at the right distance from each other, and the train is moving at a constant speed, it will look like a movie to passengers in the train. Held on to this "invention" until I saw one of these in the train from Heathrow to central London once, there are probably others elsewhere.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cwo4ut...

A Fan To Nowhere

Got into a drunken conversation with my cousin and we "invented" a toilet that had a built in exhaust fan that would suck your stink air out instead of having a normal fan in the ceiling.

We went on and on about the proper implementation of it for like 20 minutes before thinking to google it.

They exist, and they're expensive. :(

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cwo4ut...

Protected Foot

I decided that leggings would be better if they had socks attached and got really excited about my invention idea for a solid minute until I realized I had just "invented" tights.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cwo4ut...

Nah, i've had this discussion before with my skiier buddies. They should make long johns with built in ski socks.

My buddy said "like tights", and i was like nah, you want it to be the different materials for both, but attached so you don't have to have the uncomfortable in-boot overlap of sock and longjohn cuffs.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cwo4ut...

Wiretapped

"LiveWire" orange Mountain Dew. My friend and I decided to mix Crush with Mountain Dew once and found it was delicious. Then a few weeks later we saw it at a gas station and thought the CIA was listening to our phone lines (pre cell phones, for our area at least)

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cwo4ut...

Or A Bed With Wheels

Giphy

After a long day pushing my son around Disney World in his stroller I was day dreaming about how nice it would be for there to be adult sized strollers that we could use to get off our feet when we are tired.

And that's the day I invented the wheel chair.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cwo4ut...

This Magic Mixture

The color green. I was coloring a picture at home (I think it was a football player), first with yellow, then I accidentally drew with blue over it and the result was turqoise-greenish. Somewhere over the next few days in school, we had to do presentations and we were trying to decide for a color for the header. I was like "How about this?", showed it on my paper and everyone was like "Noo, green is boring... let's go with something else", which was when I realized oooh, yeah, that's green oops.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cwo4ut...

Where The Foods Are

Friends liked to go to bars and hang out a lot. I don't drink, but I do get hungry and most bar food is only okay at best. I wish they served better food for me to eat. I also hate having to yell to hold a conversation, so I wish they turned the music down and it was generally quieter and we could hear each other at a normal volume. So there should be, like, a bar but that serves a wider variety of better food and that has quiet music so you can hear each other talk. Great idea! -- wait, that's just a restaurant, self. You want to hang out in restaurants.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cwo4ut...

The Cinema

Giphy

I was watching Black Mirror, and I was thinking how the seasons only have like 3-4 episodes, then I thought "well it's ok since the episodes are long." Then I got thinking "what if they made a season with one episode and the one episode is really long." Then I realized that those are just movies

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cwo4ut...

Times Tables

When we were memorizing the times tables in elementary school, I couldn't get the nines, for whatever reason. So I'm studying this trying to figure out how to remember it, when I stumbled on a pattern. If you're multiplying the number by 9, you could multiply it by 10 instead, and just subtract the original number. I thought I was so brilliant, like I'm going to be some math prodigy or something.

Yeah no, it turns out that's just how all multiplication works. Looking back though, it's pretty dumb that we make kids rote memorize these dumb tables, instead of helping them understand the core idea in the first place.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cwo4ut...

More from People

Linda McMahon
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Hacker Hilariously Trolls Education Secretary With Music Choice At Right-Wing Conference

Education Secretary Linda McMahon was trolled by a hacker who hijacked the sound system and played circus music over remarks she gave during an appearance at a Young America’s Foundation event for conservative youth.

At one point, McMahon was cut off by audio of someone calling her a "corrupt billionaire who knows nothing about education," prompting her to look around nervously.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @summermken_official's TikTok video
@summermken_official/TikTok

Woman Goes Viral After Cramming Carry-On Luggage Into Size Checker To Prove It Fits

Let's be honest: traveling, and particularly flying, is very expensive these days, and it's important to save money wherever you can. A key way to save money is to book a cheaper class on the flight, and to only take a carry-on, rather than checking a bag, if you're able to.

TikToker @summermken_official shared a video of a woman who was willing to commit to that while in Paris. She approached a size-checking station for Vueling Airlines with a sign that read, "Does your cabin luggage fit here?" It was a metal frame in the shape of a rectangle, emulating the largest size that a piece of carry-on luggage could be.

Keep ReadingShow less
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; Chris Cuomo
Chet Strange/Getty Images; John Lamparski/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival

AOC Rips Chris Cuomo's Non-Apology After He Fell For Deepfake Of Her Criticizing Sydney Sweeney

For anyone wondering what Chris Cuomo has been doing since being fired by CNN in 2021 amidst big brother Andrew Cuomo's sexual harassment scandal, it wasn't learning how to spot deepfakes.

Even when they're watermarked "parody 100% made with AI."

Keep ReadingShow less
Pedro Pascal
Lia Toby/Getty Images

Fans love Pascal's clapbacks

America’s favorite zaddy Pedro Pascal has officially had it with the social media trolls in his comments.

Specifically, the ones obsessing over how physically close he gets to his male and female co-stars—as if basic and consensual human warmth is now suspicious behavior.

Keep ReadingShow less
Serena Williams
ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images

Fans Jump To Serena Williams' Defense After Gym Selfies Spark Accusations That She's Using Ozempic

Largely because of social media, it's becoming increasingly hard to know what is real, honest, and authentic. This includes people's appearances, weight and physique, and what they did to reach the look they've achieved.

Throughout this summer, people have been commenting on Serena Williams' Instagram posts, accusing her of losing too much weight and even of using Ozempic.

Keep ReadingShow less