INNOVATION - ARE WE MOVING FORWARD?
Are we running out of new ideas? Or are we becoming decadent?
This period between the industrial revolution and post-war has been crucial for the development of our civilization with inventions such as:
Steam powered manufactures and transportation; The piano; The diving bell; The fire extinguisher; The thermometer; The sextant; The telegraph; The submarine; Self-winding clock; The parachute; Hot air balloon; Threshing machine; The gas turbine; The bicycle; The ball bearing; Soft drink; Paper machine; The battery; Gas lighting; The arc lamp; The Tin can; Tea bag; Photograph; Traffic lights, Tungsten steel, Mail order catalog; The Stethoscope; The Portland Cement; The electromagnet; Matches; Sewing machine; Electric dynamo; Wrench; Mechanical calculator; The revolver; Hydrogen fuel cell; Blue print; Pneumatic tire; Anesthesia; Dishwasher; The gyroscope; Pasteurization; Flush toilet; Washing machine; Elevator; Glider; Internal combustion engine; Machine gun; Spinning mule; Plastic; Smallpox vaccine; Dynamite; Bifocal eyeglasses; Typewriter; Telephone; Phonograph; The circular saw; The Zipper; Moving picture; Winchester lever action gun; Lightbulb; Toilet paper; Metal detector; Automobile; The radar; The Gramophone; Penicillin; Contact lenses; Barbed wire; Coca Cola; Escalator; Diesel engine; Electron microscope; Vacuum cleaner; helicopter; AI, The first robot (1921); Electric motor; Train locomotive; The facsimile; Airship; Fiber optics; Torpedo, Motorcycle, Motor vehicle; First motion picture camera; Zeppelin, Tractor; Cellophane; The radio; The radio telescope; Pyrex; Aspirin; Frozen food process; Nylon; The computer; the photocopier; Television; Polymers; The Band-aid; Lie detector; Polaroid; Voice recognition machine; The parking meter; Defibrillator; Cocaine; Scotch tape; Neoprene; Polyester; Nuclear fission; The jet engine; The Monopoly; Ball point pen; Color TV
From 1940 to date (the information technology era), progress seems to be moving in slow motion, or even stalling on big discoveries and inventions. Aside from Genome mapping and the internet, most other discoveries are improvements and reinventions of the precedent era.
Ballistic missile; Digital computer; Pocket calculator; The Walkman; Turbo prop engine; Synthetic rubber; Silly putty; LSD; Kidney dialysis machine; Atomic bomb; Polio vaccine; Ejector seat; Hypertext, Microwave oven; Laser; The Hula Hoop; Mobile phone; Transistor, Frisbee; Radial Tires; Nuclear power plant; Tetracycline; Kevlar; Bar code; Silicone breast implants; Cell phone; Solar cell; Satellite; Microchip; Computer Hard Disk; Holograph, Pacemaker; Fortran; Industrial robot; Fiber tip pen; MRI; In-Vitro Fertilization; The space program (started in 1958 and canceled in 2010 by president Obama); The WWW (1983-1990); Compact disk; Video games; HDTV; Touchscreen; Flash memory; Artificial heart; The genome discovery (DNA); Wingsuit, 3D-Glasses; 3D Printing; Drones although guided planes exited before 1940; AI, Sophia (2016)
Most people when asked will say that we are living in a golden age of technological, scientific and social progress. Apart from the human genome project of DNA mapping which started 60 years ago, and the creation of the internet, most other inventions are actually reinventions or the discovery of a new applications for something which was already invented during the industrial revolution or the post-war period. What is the common issue for both innovations of this era? The internet and DNA mapping (and its applications such as stem cell research) are both controlled by the same bankers, governments and corporate ethics.
In any case, apart from these two major breakthroughs, it is now clear that innovation has stalled for the past 70 years. If you still have doubts look at an airliner today in 2018 and one from the 50’s. Aside from improvements in avionics and security, the travel time from New York to Paris is the same as it was 60 years ago.
In fact, 42 years ago, you had the option to travel from New York to Paris in 3 hours and a half. You can do the same exercise with most of the things you use every day from your car to shaving razor. The average production car speed in the 50’s was 125mph and today it is 150mph, keep in mind that the average limitation is 60mph. I personally shave with a razor blade invented by Gillette in 1901. If you shave with an electric razor, my father and grandfather were already using one in the 30’s. Try this exercise with any of the inventions above from 1760 to 1949.
So, we aren’t inventing and innovating anymore, but why? Is it due to money, lack of human ingenuity, the political climate, or laxness…?
I found many different views on the subject. Some economy experts, and even some anthropologists, think that we are simply capitalizing on the scientific breakthroughs of the 18th and 19th centuries because we are too comfortable. This makes sense if you think about preceding civilizations such as the Sumerians, the Egyptians, the Persians, the Romans, the Aztecs, and the Incas. They each attained their apogee then some became decadent until they finally disappeared or were assimilated. The question is what or who keeps us so comfortable and for what purpose?
Digging a bit deeper you may find that about 1% of the world’s total population owns about 60% to 70% of the world’s total wealth, while conspiracists will say that one family owns 90% of the world’s total wealth. Honestly, I am not sure about these numbers moreover if this is the case it would be almost impossible to prove. Now the logic behind this explanation is obvious, if the 1% have such wealth doing nothing today why would they want to change anything?
According to economists, or your favorite political persona, “Globalization” is the best solution but for bankers this means easier global control. Remember that politics come and go, but bankers have been around forever. The last piece of the puzzle is how do they do it?
They do so by making sure only the elite have access to higher education, as well as by controlling your votes, guns, police, armies, food, medicine and media which now includes the internet, etc...
One banker created their wealth by financing the Napoleonic Wars from both sides, and has kept doing so since.
Globalization has become the obvious strategy by making it is easier to control 3 blocks (Europe, the Americas and Asia) or even one block than 195 countries. As per individual control, the internet of things including mobile devices, intelligent houses and self-driving cars offer endless information, and AI/Robots will eventually give them absolute control. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=308&v=dMrX08PxUNY
I understand this may sound like another conspiracy theory, but do you think it is a possible scenario?
