I had a thought the other day: “What if I have never actually had an original thought?”
Everywhere I look nowadays, everything is written by AI—LinkedIn posts, email marketing campaigns, content everywhere. And although AI can say things very well, choosing the right words and using proper sentence structure, it never creates anything new. It just recycles thoughts and ideas from the past.
But what does it mean to be original?
To me, this piece of writing is original. I have never seen these thoughts articulated in quite the same way that I am doing now. But what if someone has already had this thought and hasn’t yet articulated it in the same way? Would that make my thought any less original?
Can a thought then even be original?
If our thoughts are formed by interactions with the things around us and the other ideas we have come into contact with, can thoughts really ever be our own? We are constantly absorbing information from books, conversations, media, and experiences. Our brains take all this input and mix it together in new ways. What feels like a fresh insight might just be a new combination of old ideas.
Think about it this way: every person who has ever lived has read different books, had different conversations, and lived through different experiences. When we process all this through our unique perspective, something new emerges. Maybe originality isn’t about creating something from nothing. Maybe it’s about the unique way each person combines existing ideas.
“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows.” – Jim Jarmusch
Which of the greats who I’ve read am I plagiarizing right now? The honest answer is probably all of them. Every book I’ve read, every conversation I’ve had, every piece of art that moved me has influenced my thinking. I am walking collection of influences, and these words are just the latest expression of that.
“Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all.” – Abraham Lincoln
Are these thoughts my own, or am I simply recycling thoughts others have had and ideas they’ve seen? Maybe both. They come from my perspective, but they’re also part of a larger conversation that goes back thousands of years.
What then is the difference between human intelligence and artificial intelligence?
Perhaps it’s not in how we think—both humans and machines combine existing elements in new ways. The difference might be in experience itself. Human intelligence comes from actually living in the world, dealing with emotions, relationships, and the knowledge that we will die. Our thoughts are shaped not just by information but by what it feels like to be human.
AI can write text that sounds human, but it does so without the weight of real experience. When I worry about whether my thoughts are original, that worry itself is part of what makes them human. The anxiety, the self-doubt, the desire to say something meaningful—these transform simple information processing into something more.
We live in a world where AI can produce endless content that sounds smart and well-written. In this context, maybe originality isn’t about having thoughts that have never been thought before. Maybe it’s about thinking authentically, wrestling with real questions, and adding your voice to the human conversation.
The internet is full of recycled ideas dressed up as insights. Social media algorithms feed us variations of the same thoughts over and over. In this environment, genuine thinking—even if it builds on old ideas—feels rare and valuable.
“An original idea. That can’t be too hard. The library must be full of them.” – Stephen Fry
Consider this: Shakespeare borrowed plots from other writers. The Beatles built on earlier musical traditions. Every innovation in science builds on previous discoveries. Originality has always been about taking what exists and seeing it in a new way, not creating something from nothing.
“Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.” – T.S. Eliot, The Sacred Wood
But there’s something unsettling about how AI works. It can scan millions of texts and produce something that sounds original but lacks any real understanding. It can mimic creativity without experiencing it. This makes us question what human creativity really is.
Maybe the answer is simpler than we think. Human thoughts come from human experience. They carry the weight of real life—our struggles, hopes, and the strange fact that we’re conscious beings aware of our own existence. When we think about big questions like originality, we’re not just processing information. We’re grappling with what it means to be human.
The thought I had the other day may not have been entirely new, but the experience of having it was mine. In a world increasingly filled with artificial voices, that might be what matters most.
We don’t need to create something that has never existed before. We just need to think honestly about our own experience and share what we discover. Even if our ideas build on others’ work, the particular way we see things has never existed before and never will again.
So maybe the question isn’t whether we can have truly original thoughts. Maybe it’s whether we can think authentically in a world that often rewards the opposite. The courage to examine our own minds, to question our assumptions, and to share what we find—that might be the only originality that really matters.
In the end, originality might not be about the thoughts themselves but about the thinking. And as long as we keep genuinely engaging with the questions that matter to us, we’ll keep adding something real to the conversation.
What am I reading?
Curious to see what I’m reading this week? That’s easy, I’ve attached a copy of the book’s details down below. If you’re looking at getting into reading yourself, that might not be as easy. If you want a hand, you can download our free Think Big Reading List right here
The Fall
Albert Camus
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Wishing you all the best for the week ahead, I hope you crush all of your goals!
~ Nick
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