Creativity Wasted

Idea: A GPS system for your car which has special features for Black people and which has a strong voice personality, such as Samuel L. Jackson, who yells at you to ensure you don't ignore important warnings (like to avoid dangerous areas). Also: instead of warning you about speed traps, it'd warn you about "trap houses"; instead of warning you about a "disabled vehicle ahead", if you're approachi...

Idea: To have many tiny cruise ships (from family-sized to max size of appx 200 people) that travel in clusters, along with giant supply ships, with drones and rowboat-sized supply boats to move food and other supplies between the giant supply ships and the tiny cruise ships. Also: tiny cruise ships could dock in ports which aren't big enough to dock giant cruise ships; putting people on separate...

Idea: Pickup-truck-sized RVs which have flat truck beds which are divided into four rectangle segments onto which modular "RV cubes" containing your stuff (or stuff that you rent) can be popped on and off on demand at rest stops. Also: "RV cubes" containing beds, tables, jacuzzis, or gear for outdoor activities; ordering stuff from Amazon and shipping it to a rest stop which puts it into an "RV cu...

Idea: To make bets with your friends/family on when a loved one on their deathbed will die (as a distraction from the grief and awkwardness of waiting around for long periods of time in a hospital). Also: betting over the will or the leftover drugs; inappropriately celebrating if you won the bet; trying not to die yet to prevent someone from winning the death bet; side bets on whether alcoholism d...

Idea: To replace fast food workers with robots which are controlled by real people working remotely from home, and also to prepare fast food for delivery via pneumatic tubes in "ghost kitchens" in apartment complexes and dorms. This would give the workers more job flexibility and would allow the restaurants to stay open if there was a more deadly virus outbreak. Also: opinions on "gig jobs" and wo...

Ideas: To have drones deliver food to people in moving vehicles, such as cars stuck in traffic. Also: how some technology of today would seem insane and/or ridiculous to people in the past; holding out bags of food on hooks which people on trains can grab as the train drives by; having drones swap your normal helmet with a "beer helmet" while you're driving a motorcycle Gimmy Cipriano (YouTube: AB...

Idea: An extra liver that you can plug in to your body after drinking heavily to reduce your hangover and/over reduce the long-term harmful effects of the alcohol. Also: crazy medical devices which actually exist (or could exist) but aren't made available because they're only for recreation (i.e. they don't improve your health); why dentistry is a scam; learning how to make illegal drugs while ser...

Idea: Gazebos and other structures (yurts, sunbathing pods, dune buggies, pontoon boats) which can be converted between "open-air structures" and "enclosed shelter-providing structures" by snapping in/out modular clear plastic windows. The idea is, instead of living in a "house", to instead live most of your life in the open air, and only enclose yourself "indoors" (i.e. within walls and windows)...

Idea: Chocolates which (unlike Dove) don't display unrealistically positive messages on the wrapper. Instead, they display realistic messages, such as reminders to perform errands ("make sure you have AA batteries") and comedically dark/demotivational messages ("your spouse probably settled", "you're too old to achieve your dreams"). Also: some of the chocolates could taste bad on purpose to remin...

Idea: A "smart chair" with a tranquilizer device to knock out annoying people at a movie theater. It would vibrate once or twice as a warning before tranqing you, unless you answer your phone and start talking, in which case you'd be tranq'd immediately. Also: Getting tranq'd on purpose if the movie is boring or you want to relax before a job interview; trying to make your friends laugh inappropri...

Idea: To use Boston Dynamics robotic dogs to save the lives of people whose hearts have stopped by jumping on their chests and rapidly cooling their bodies, thus giving rescuers an extra hour or two to revive them. Also: "ice dogs" roaming the neighborhood looking for medical emergencies and, in the meantime, serving as police dogs and package delivery dogs; the risk of "ice dogs" sticking to your...

Idea: A reality TV show where a family temporarily replaces the dad with a washed-up action movie star, such as Steven Seagal or Brian Bosworth. The action star would complain that his whole body aches and begrudgingly participate in family-oriented events organized by the reality show. He could be so horrible that he makes the family more appreciative of their real dad, or he could sleep with the...

Idea: A redesign of Netflix which is actually good. It'll be good because a) the shows are better (obviously), and because b) it'll offer a much more immersive experience. It'll support immersion into a particular movie or TV show by including commentaries, Arsenio Hall talk show promotional segments, bloopers, and other bonus content related to the movie or TV show. It'll also support immersion i...

Idea: A DJ-in-a-box for a Covid-era wedding (or other social event). It'd be extremely cheap because the socially-distanced event would only have around 10 people in attendance and therefore wouldn't justify the cost of a normal DJ. It'd consist of an oscillating fan with some laser pointers taped to it, a pack of three "smart light bulbs" to put around the venue, and a Spotify playlist which you...

Idea: A barrier that surrounds a table or desk to block pets from jumping onto the table and eating your food. It would have sliding doors on your side of the table to either allow you to access the table, or block the table when you need to leave the table to go get ketchup. It would have a hand crank to allow you to lower it below the surface of the table when its not being used, so you don't ha...

Idea: A virtual-reality simulation of your daily commute to work, to help make you feel like your life has returned to post-Covid normalcy. You'll get the sensation of moving a couple hundred feet every few minutes, just like a real commute. You can simulate driving inconveniences such as stressful traffic jams (by locking the virtual-reality helmet onto your head until you're late logging onto yo...

Idea: A dark and exploitative game show where poor or jobless contestants compete for basic human needs, such as health insurance, basic income, or citizenship. Also: eliminating taxes for game show winnings because the poor depend on those winnings; the British game show called "Beat the Crusher" where they crush your car if you lose; an idea for a celebrity game show called "Loan Shark Tank" whe...

Idea: A home renovation TV show for the homes or habitats of wild animals (bears, beavers, birds, etc). Examples of renovations include a recliner for a sloth, "salmon on tap" for a bear, and an even dirtier toilet for a sewer rat. The TV show could show sad back stories (such as a penguin getting covered with oil during an oil spill) and could give the animals special gifts (like a prosthetic leg...

Idea: Traveling "food circuses"which are each based on a specific genre of food (Ethiopian, Vietnamese, Greek, etc.). Cooks and market vendors from that country would serve/sell food of every class of that food genre (markets, street food, normal everyday restaurants, fancy 4-star restaurants). The food circus would have scheduled activities, like speeches from famous chefs or cooking lessons. It...

Idea: A kit for toy drone enthusiasts to convert an attic vent to a "drone doggy-door" and put a grid of wireless drone charging stations in their attic. They could then register their house as a "drone charging station" to create a nationwide "drone charging network", thus allowing people to gradually fly toy drones (which are connected to the cell phone network) across the country Originally fro...

Idea: An hourly drone rental service for sightseeing at the Grand Canyon (or some other vacation destination), where you'd control the drone remotely from your computer, tablet, or VR headset. Afterwards, it would send you 4k video recorded by the drone. Also: why sightseeing vacations don't make sense; social drones which have a screen that shows your face Originally from Creativity Wasted episod...

Idea: An anonymous messaging app to allow disgruntled drivers to send angry text messages to other drivers using their license plate. It would instantly cause a huge spike of deaths from these disgruntled drivers crashing while trying to send angry texts. But these aren't the best people anyway. Also: joyriding in someone else's car to cause them to get woken up by angry messages; an angry message...

Idea: An app to listen to people talking to you and come up with responses for you to say, so you don't have to pay attention if you're bored. Although, if people like talking to your app more than talking to you, it might crush your self-esteem. Also: an hour-long Harry Potter play written by a "predictive text" algorithm; the app could steer the conversation in a direction which would capture yo...

Idea: An electronic wedding ring that can log when and where you take it off, to prevent cheaters from taking off their wedding rings. Although, if sunspots knock out the GPS satellites, it'd be like "Cheater Christmas". And in the future, when most people have "augmented reality" glasses, the glasses could augment how other people see the married person, to either make them appear uglier or hide...

Idea: A nearly empty house where almost everything is wheeled in and out by robots. Things like toilets would be cleaned in a neighborhood warehouse when they're wheeled out. Services such as cooking and laundry would also be offered by the neighborhood so you don't have to do it and also you don't need to own the appliances. Also: The silly self-cleaning house from the TV sitcom Home Improvement...