Our pipe experiment began as one more calculated effort. But no one planned an invention. Invention doesn't work that way. We managed to do something significant this time around just because we let ourselves be changed in a blink. No, creativity is communal.
Nothing has any one absolute inventor.
We've told the tale of the lonely genius so many times we start believing it. In fact, it isn't true at all. Look closely at any invention and you'll find some form of community behind it. Invention happens when we're interactive, self-expressive, alert, and willing to enter into change. Years later I passed Eichhorn in the office one Friday evening.