THE world’s inventors are a prolific lot, publishing several thousand new patents every week. OK, so most of these are as dull as ditchwater, but a small number usually turn out to be gems: some are fascinating (Hitachi has a new patent to make electrical equipment release a warning smell just before it goes wrong – see “Sniffing Circuits”); some are genuinely world-changing (the patent for Pfizer’s Viagra); and some are just plain daft (one recent patent from Florida described methods of reincarnation).
What they have in common is that they represent a bargain between inventor and society. Society gives…
