Originally Posted by
The Jace
well certainly there is a limited number of things to work with (only so many elements, colors, materials, ideas) but new things do come into fruition that aren't just re imaginings. yes everything comes from somewhere, but do you mean to imply that everything is based on one thing? a bird, you could argue, is made up of its organs, organs made of tissue, made of cells, made of atoms, made of all the parts that make up atoms down to that very tiny final piece of whatever that makes up all life. it seems if you continue your point though it would make sense to say that there are infinite possibilities for new things rather than just a limited number of re-imaginings.
you're right, everything is based on the same thing, if you want to get atomic about it, but a new animal is not a new element, and a new element is not a new idea. I guess what I'm saying (in a certainly convoluted fashion) is that new ideas can be created, some may be rearrangements (printing press essentially automating scribes), but some can be entirely new. (scientific explanations typically do this)