Is necessity really the mother of all inventions ?

[daveob]

A thought I just had while pondering a small home automation system I am researching (is this legal )

I often hear the saying that "necessity is the mother of all inventions", but I wonder how many inventions ( either devices of systems ) were made by men ( or women ) who didn't have time on their hands to ponder the challenge and tinker until a solution was found ?

Logic from this tells me that in days gone by, it must have been the aristocratic / wealthy who had time on their hands and resources to do these things.

I see programs about inventions on dstv and often wonder just how the inventor kept down a day job and still had time to tinker - maybe most of them didn't have to work.

I suppose that now-a-days most inventions by the "working class" are done mainly while in the employ of a corporate that can fund the R&D.

[Justloadit]

You certainly have to have another form of income to be able to do R & D. The idea is to use the proceeds from the R & D which now is a product, to fund the next one. There is no way that by doing R & D all the time you can earn a decent living, I know been at it for years.