Fing-Longer Invention Information Invented by Hubert J. Farnsworth Purpose of invention To extend the reach of your finger First appearance Anthology of Interest I"





"So that's what things would be like if I'd invented the fing-longer. [Sigh]. A man can dream though. A man can dream..." ―Hubert J. Farnsworth[source]

A Fing-Longer was an invention Professor Farnsworth regretted not inventing. It was similar to a glove, but it had an extended index finger, thus allowing him to use it during mission briefings. It allows him to reach much further to press things than he could have done with his normal hand. He first saw it in a What If? scenario but later went on to invent it as he thought it was a good idea.

An underlying difficulty that the invention of the Fing-Longer creates is whether Professor Farnsworth can properly be said to have invented it if he got the idea from a What-If Machine. The first question is to what extent does external inspiration affect one's claim as inventor. The second question is does another version of one's self count as external inspiration (most likely it does).

A third option is that the fing-longer was invented by someone other than the Professor, hence its existence in other episodes. It may be an invention that the Professor envies, as his statement "so that's what things would be like if I'd invented the fing-longer" only tells us that the Professor didn't invent it, not that it had not been invented at all.

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