[adamquek]

The good thing is, you will probably remember that one good one and forget about unsuccessful generations; just like how a gambler will only remember that one time he won something, and never talk about most of the time he lost.

[Agraillo]

The same is usually true for "human" inventors. I mean not forgetting or gambling, but having many unsuccessful attempts with probably a single good outcome. Recently read "Reinventing the wheel" by Steve Kemper (also known as "Code name Ginger" about Segway development), the funny term for this from Kamen himself was "frog kissing".