While the patent system has its flaws, one good concept is that a patent requires not only an idea, but a credible recipe for reducing the idea to practice. As such, few of the ideas in science fiction are actual inventions.<p>At the workplace, someone will often suggest something at a meeting, or to a subordinate, and claim "credit" for it later on. My rule of thumb is that credit goes to the person who actually made it happen, because that person had to work out whether it was feasible or not. Ideas are a dime a dozen.