Do You Suffer From Baboon Syndrome? Watch This Video to Be Sure.
Over 40 years ago, a South African movie director released a marvelous movie: Animals Are Beautiful People. His other great movie was this: The Gods Must Be Crazy.
I want you to watch the following segment from the movie. It is only about five minutes long. It illustrates a point far better than I could do verbally. That's why I want you to watch the video first. Then I will comment.
The baboon suffered from a trait that I have seen in the lives of highly creative people. They grab tightly onto a handful of baubles, and they will not let loose. They cannot figure out that their inability to move forward is tied directly to their unwillingness to let loose of the baubles.
The man who invented the black box that I write about was such an individual. He was clearly a genius. He invented a lot of other incredible inventions over the years. But this one was his great one, and he understood this. On the one hand, he suffered from a messianic complex. He wanted to be recognized as the man who had found the cure for cancer, muscular dystrophy, chronic fatigue syndrome, Lou Gehrig's disease, AIDS, and several others. He believed that his machine could provide cures for these diseases. My wife met a woman at the clinic who in fact had been cured of muscular dystrophy. She had completely lost the use of her arm. By going on to the machine, her arm was restored.
The problem was this: he also wanted to profit mightily from the machine. The two goals came into conflict. He promoted without evidence the claim that he could cure cancer. He went on television on the Las Vegas television statement and made this claim. Within a few months, the FDA had shut down the clinic. He could never again use the machine to help people in the United States.
He did not understand that the way to become famous as the inventor of the miracle machine was to put the schematics into the public domain, and then sell his time as a consultant to those who wanted to make certain that they were using the machine properly.
The way to get mass distribution is to give up all royalty payments. The way to get mass distribution is to release the schematics to the general public. The way to get the machine into the hands of people around the world is to let some Chinese entrepreneur start producing the machine at incredibly low prices. The money was never to be made by selling machines. The money was going to be made by serving as a consultant on the correct use of the machines. "Give away the machine; sell the advice." but he was a megalomaniac, though a very kindly one, and he would not turn loose of the schematics. He did not want anyone to know how the machine worked.
I have known other inventors with the same problem. I have known software developers with the same problem. They think that the money is going to be made in the sale of the product, which can be easily pirated. They can't secure the ownership rights effectively, because they cannot afford the legal talent to defend the rights. A big company can steal the invention. A Chinese company can steal the invention. So, give away the invention, and sell the applications. Sell the expertise in putting the machine or invention to use. Create a website with a subscription wall. There are all kinds of ways to monetize ideas. But unless you are incredibly wealthy, manufacturing a machine that embodies a new idea is not the way to get rich.
Turn loose of the baubles. Become a consultant in the proper use of the baubles.