Innovation has become Stagnant. We need much much more.
October 10, 2019
Imagine this: A person from the year 1000 (the 11th Century) falls asleep for 100 years.
When he-she wakes up in 1100, the world would look pretty familiar. The same goes if he slept for 300 years and woke up in 1300. Even if you go further back, a man born in 2000 BCE waking up in 1500 AD would find a world he could understand. Sure, there’d be surprises like the printing press and metal swords, but he’d get the basics—kings, religion, roads, animals, food, cities. Buildings might be taller and tools better, some might blow his mind, but he could function. Would he need to change and be re-education? Sure. But he’d catch on.
But Fast Forward to the 19th Century…
Now, let’s take a man from 1820 and plop him into 1920. He’d be lost! Electricity, cars, planes, and radios would seem like pure magic. A world war? Totally baffling. Skyscrapers? Mind-boggling. Sewer treatment plants? Unfathomable. This guy wouldn’t even comprehend the role of planes in warfare. Physics and Science? He’d know they exist but wouldn’t grasp the depts. Many of the innovations are hidden from us (like electricity or the shape of a wing in the air, or the size of the world, or the amount of specialization that occurs to make a building.
The world would not be the same.
So, What About 1920 to 2020?
A person from 1920 waking up today would recognize a lot. Cars and planes? Yep, just evolved versions of what they knew. They’d appreciate modern household products and probably become a coffee snob with all the fancy options we have now. Cities, books, TV, commercials, escalators, balloons, ads, pens—these would all make sense.
The Confusions and Delights
But then, there’d be the internet. Computers would surprise and confuse them but not shock them. Google? They’d be in awe but quickly see the benefits. Social media like Facebook and Twitter? They’d probably be confused and uninterested. And Google and Facebook’s business models? They’d be utterly perplexed by how these companies make money, let alone be the richest in the world (honestly, that’s still confusing to some today).
What’s Been Driving Innovation?
Since 1920, most major innovations have paled in comparison to the 1820's. We need a leap like the one from 1820 to 1920 again—that’s when real innovation occurred.