I believe imagination and invention go hand in hand. Remember how lack of resources was never a problem in childhood games? Shift a few pieces of furniture around the living room, and you have yourself a fort. There are no rules. That is how art is born and how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules. That is what invention is about.
Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. Their goals differed, but they all had this in common: that the step was first, the road new, the vision not borrowed, and the response they received was hatred. The great creators stood alone against the men of their time. Every great new thought was opposed. Every great new invention was denounced. The first motor was considered foolish. The airplane was considered impossible. The power loom was considered vicious. Anesthesia was considered sinful. But the men of vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered and they paid. And ultimately they won.
Nature is the source of all true knowledge. She has her own logic, her own laws; she has neither effect without cause nor invention without necessity. We must not be afraid of inventing anything; everything there is in us exists in nature. After all, we are part of nature. If it resembles nature, that is fine. If it doesn't, what of it? When man wanted to invent something as useful as the human foot, he invented the wheel, which he used to transport himself and his burdens. The fact that the wheel doesn't have the slightest resemblance to the human foot is hardly a criticism of it.
Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos. As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously. From things that have happened and from things as they exist and from all things that you know and all those you cannot know, you make something through your invention that is not a representation but a whole new thing truer than anything true and alive, and you make it alive, and if you make it well enough, you give it immortality.
What is interesting about the shift from an industrial age to a technological age is that we keep inventing new media: movies, records, radio, television, the internet, and now e-books and one of the things that is most interesting about the invention of a new medium is watching it reinvent itself as it penetrates the culture. An invention is a responsibility of the individual, society cannot invent, and it can only applaud the invention and inventor. For example, people who smile while they are alone used to be called insane, until we invented smart phones and social media.
The progressive development of man is vitally dependent on invention. It is the most important product of his creative brain. The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it cannot be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it. People who achieve big things are those who decide to try ideas that were previously rated and graded as impossibilities. Impossibility never exists and when you look at the word IMPOSSIBLE carefully, you can read it as I M POSSIBLE too.
Be creative while inventing ideas, but be disciplined while implementing them. Plant the seed of desire in the field of imagination to grow the harvest of invention. Our ancestors have invented so we can at least innovate because life is a continuous journey of transformation.
Before I conclude, let me tell you, scientists may have sophisticated laboratories and space shuttles but never forget 'eureka' was inspired in a bathtub.