We’re taught that copying is cheating and that true genius requires inventing something from nothing. But what if the "originality" we worship is actually a lie? In this episode, we debunk the myth of the solitary genius by looking at the greatest creative thieves in history. We find out why Shakespeare would be expelled from modern colleges for plagiarism, how The Beatles honed their craft as a cover band in Hamburg strip clubs, and why The Ramones only invented punk rock because they were physically incapable of playing Beach Boys songs.

We’ll dive into the cognitive science of "combinatorial creativity" and the concept of the "palimpsest" to show why the best ideas are often just "bad copies" of old ones. From DJ Kool Herc inventing hip hop by looping James Brown records to Japanese whiskey distillers accidentally improving on Scotch, we prove that your unique voice is actually found in the mistakes you make while trying to be someone else. Stop waiting for a lightning bolt of inspiration and learn why the smartest way to create is to get dumb and start copying.

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Dumbify celebrates ideas so weird, wrong, or wildly impractical… they just might be brilliant. Hosted by David Carson, a serial entrepreneur behind multiple hundred-million-dollar companies and the go-to secret weapon for companies looking to unlock new markets through unconventional thinking. Dumbify dives into the messy, counter-intuitive side of creativity — the “dumb” ideas that built empires, broke rules, and ended up changing everything.