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I assume his point is that he's not going to be able to execute on all his ideas anyway, so why not make them free to people who might? If the idea succeeds, the benefit to him is a better world, while the cost is nothing. It's a positive-sum proposition, what's not to like?
> If the idea succeeds, the benefit to him is a better world, while the cost is nothing. It's a positive-sum proposition, what's not to like?

I am unaware of any of the ideas having been picked up and productized. I might be mistaken.

However, if I'm correct, then the thing that could be better is picking ideas that have a high chance of being selected, everything else being equal.

While turning ideas into products isn't the benchmark for a successful idea, there are countless product folk who have definitely been inspired by Bret's work.

For example, this is Vlad Magdalin, one of the founders of Webflow:

> But I won’t claim credit that it was some magical insight that I had. It was a specific video that I saw that I think every maker and every creator should see called “Inventing on Principal” by Bret Victor. Seeing that talk, it’s a maybe 50-minute talk around creating games and doing animation and this broader concept of direct manipulation, but more importantly the principal behind why you do the work you do, what drives you.

> Seeing that video and being a designer and a 3D animator and a developer all at once, it just sparked that idea of, “holy crap.” The kinds of tools that we can have in animation land, the kind of tools we already have for game design and level design, the tools we have in digital publishing, all those things can be married together to front end and back end development and make it a much more human type of interface. That’s when it was boom, this has to be a product and a thing.

(source: https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/144-vlad-magdalin-of-we...)

You are incorrect. Many if Bret's ideas have been implemented - "productized".