Aren’t innovation and invention marvellous words? The implication is not just of something new or better, but something to change the world... like electric cars are becoming, almost life-changing. I love it!
If we think back on those things that have changed the world forever, that even a short time before would have seemed absolutely impossible... these evolutions have led the way. The discovery of fire must have been mind boggling at the time. Not only for warmth, but for cooking, hardening wooden spear-points, smelting metals for a thousand uses, created new means of processing foods and skins, and so much more.
The wheel though, for me, arguably set the ball rolling, and once the implementation of an axle led to the first carts, mankind’s ability to move around, to travel, even in the most basic way, taking their possessions with them, made the world a very different place. The wheel also provided a ‘seed’ to so much that followed, from farming, to grinding and processing grains, to trading, to clocks, to propellers, turbines, and even the modern computer. It’s an invention that has been with us now for 5,500 years, and will influence our progress forever.
The compass has been with us too for a while, and while almost taken for granted today as few of us actually use them... but we do use maps, we do need to know where ‘other places’ are, we do all use Google maps and GPS. Most of all, the compass inspired travel, exploration and discovery, doing exactly that, inspiring our ancestors, and transforming every generation since to travel.
The printing press, in a crude form has been with us since Oriental scholars used woodcut impressions over 1,500 years ago, but the printed word exploded with German, Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of a printing press using metal typesets in just about 700 years ago. This forerunner of the print media, has driven the emergence of the media as a gargantuan social and political influence. It has educated and informed billions, allowed the spread of several written languages and religions through the Holy Quran, the Bible, and other significant tomes of faith, of international prominence and primacy. Finally, the printing press has led to the printing of banknotes of hundreds of denominations, changing all of the world, forever.
The internal combustion engine has made us all somewhat more adventurous, and a little lazy, but has evolved with almost indecent haste, become so much faster every year. It evolved through an inspired need to use energy derived from non-physical effort, chemically induced power and therefore pressure and movement, enabling a widespread industrial revolution, and a plethora of different transportation options on land, sea, and air.
One of the key surprises is that it’s only less than a century since Scotsman Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928, growing in a petri dish, after he returned from a holiday. Honestly, where would we be without penicillin today? And whether it was an ‘accident or design thing doesn’t really matter does it? Along with these, batteries, contraception, lightbulbs, mobile phones, nails, screws, submarines, the ‘bomb,’ the telephone, televisions, vaccinations, X-rays, and of course the internet, have all played their parts in history... so where will the next breakthrough come from?
I am fascinated at the new foiling mono-hulled yachts designed by the Emirates New Zealand Americas Cup Team, which can, in 10 mph winds, do upwards of 40 mph. However that, as impressive as it is, barely holds a feather to their hydrogen-powered chase boat. ‘Chase Zero,’ is a 10 metre hydrogen-powered, foiling, ‘crash boat’ that can do almost 50 mph, powered by two hydrogen cells, a renewable energy source of inestimable potential. These two, I believe, have implications for the future of energy in mainstream vehicular propulsion. We will see...
Maybe a universal language will one day emerge, or a way to balance wealth and equity... No, you’re right, that sort of thing will never happen... but the lottery dream remains doesn’t it? So whether it was the Emperor Augustus, or Queen Elizabeth I who was the first to ‘lotterize’ fundraising, we can all dream of innovation, invention, and the money to make things happen.
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