To me it's a mix of human lack of understanding history and current marketing madness that combine to make us think that all we read as new has never been done before. Bicycle Retailer And News use to have a patent history article in each issue. You could see the original patent for an anatomical saddle, back in 1890 whatever. Yet in 1977 (or so) when Avocet introduced their saddles so many people thought this was a new design. Index shifting, clipless pedals, freehub bodied rear hubs, suspension and so many more "recent improvements" are really only rehashing old stuff. All be it with current materials and manufacturing methods.

For your grins and giggles here's a 10 best and worst inventions list I wrote up about 20+ years ago. Much of it is still valid. Andy