"Do you invent anything else, Citizen Dent?"
"When I was a kid, I worked up an improved seeder harvester. Designed to be approximately three times as efficient as the present models. And would you believe it, I really thought I had a chance of selling it."
"Did you sell it?"
"Of course not. At that time I didn't realize that the patent office was closed permanently except for the games section."
"Were you angry about that?"
"A little angry at the time. But I soon realized that the models we have are plenty good enough. There's no need for more efficient or more ingenious inventions. Folks today are satisfied with what they've got. Besides, new inventions would be of no service to mankind. Earth's birth and death rate are stable, and there's enough for everyone. To produce a new invention, you'd have to retool an entire factory. That would be almost impossible, since all the factories today are automatic and self-repairing. That's why there's a moratorium on invention, except in the novelty game field."
"How do you feel about it?"
"What's there to feel? That's how things are."
"Would you like to have things different?"
"Maybe. But being an inventor, I'm classified as a potentially unstable character anyhow."