Blog Post 3 All Ideas Should Be Heard Even The Stupid Ones.

 In today’s time when we think of innovation we tend to think of Apple creating the newest phone with an extra camera on it or Elon musk creating cars that drive themselves. So if Innovation is about the creation of ideas that lead to technology how would it have anything to do with the first amendment which was written over two hundred years ago. Innovation isn't just how we see it today, when the first person created the wheel, that was innovation the same way it is when one of the big tech giants of today creates something new. 

So how exactly does free speech affect the innovation of new technology? It is mainly due to the free flow of ideas. When ideas are allowed to flow freely every idea gets heard increasing the ability for us to hear the good ones. Additionally when ideas are allowed to flow, more people are willing to put forward ideas even if they're bad. There are countless instances of accidental inventions that we consider important to us today. For instance the inventor of the pacemaker was doing experiments on radio frequencies and temperature, while Coca-Cola was a “snake oil” remedy that people realized tasted good even though it had no actual medical benefits, quite the opposite actually. The point is these theories would have been shut down at first because they lacked any scientific backing if we didn't have free speech. This is why America has historically been one of the highest countries in terms of patents created because our speech is so strongly protected that all ideas are allowed to flow.

So what does it look like in a world with no free speech as it pertains to innovation. I believe it would be similar to the dark ages a thousand years ago because when speech is censored so are thoughts and ideas. This “Dark age of censorship” would stunt growth in almost all fields from technological innovation to societal progression. In terms of the aforementioned societal progression, you would have a country where politicians are never criticized, laws are never changed and the political climate of the nation stays the same. For some people this would be ideal but for most it likely starts the fires of a revolution as people should have the right to say what they want and put forth any idea as even the bad thoughts and ideas have the potential to change millions of lives for the better.

All of this is why we are obligated to fight tooth and nail for our first Amendment protection. Without this first amendment protection our ideas do not have the ability to flow naturally and not all ideas can be brought out. This level of censorship would create a world where everyone would be afraid to talk about their ideas because that would be perceived wrong or not accepted by the community as a whole. As an American it is our constitutional right to put our ideas on the table, even the dumb ones the same way that every person has the right to voice their opinions even the stupid ones.

Sources https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/innovation https://www.statista.com/statistics/256845/ranking-of-the-10-countries-who-filed-the-most-international-patent-applications/ https://www.businessinsider.com/accidental-inventions-that-changed-the-world-2016-6#corn-flakes-14