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Connections: Inventions leading to more inventions
Connections (by James Burke): Must read for all inventors
I'm reading a book called Connections by James Burke. I am looking to the inventions of the past because I am personally inventing some ideas digitally for the future. Why would I look to the inventions of the past (even from thousands of years before) to find the solutions to the future? Because somehow I believe it creates trigger points for me personally. I can't explain this but it just feels right.
Connections is a book that shows how inventions of the past relate to inventions of the future and today. It also discusses how inventions are linked to each other and how one invention becomes a trigger point for another.
James Burke has a great quote for any inventor:
"We live surrounded by the end products of thousand connections."
- James Burke, Connections
The book is a fascinating study of how inventions evolve. In my opinion, every inventor should read this book.
Personally, I am looking to the future by looking at the past. Burke makes a beautiful and very logical statement: "Anyway, there is nowhere else to look for the future but in the past."
According to Burke, "innovation occurs for many reasons, including greed, ambition, conviction, happenstance, acts of nature, mistakes, and desperation. But one force above all seems to facilitate the process. The easier to communicate, the faster the change happens. Every time there is an improvement in the technology with which ideas and people come together, major change ensue.
What a profound statement. Look at the current technology. Look at how the social webs are changing the landscape of how ideas propagate across the world.
Ironically, sharing of ideas triggers more ideas. This is so critical to any inventor. In my opinion, the rate of innovation is going to increase substantially because when you have ideas being propagated and shared globally, it creates a trigger effect for new ideas -- at the speed of infinite.
I'm reading a book called Connections by James Burke. I am looking to the inventions of the past because I am personally inventing some ideas digitally for the future. Why would I look to the inventions of the past (even from thousands of years before) to find the solutions to the future? Because somehow I believe it creates trigger points for me personally. I can't explain this but it just feels right.
Connections is a book that shows how inventions of the past relate to inventions of the future and today. It also discusses how inventions are linked to each other and how one invention becomes a trigger point for another.
James Burke has a great quote for any inventor:
"We live surrounded by the end products of thousand connections."
- James Burke, Connections
The book is a fascinating study of how inventions evolve. In my opinion, every inventor should read this book.
Personally, I am looking to the future by looking at the past. Burke makes a beautiful and very logical statement: "Anyway, there is nowhere else to look for the future but in the past."
According to Burke, "innovation occurs for many reasons, including greed, ambition, conviction, happenstance, acts of nature, mistakes, and desperation. But one force above all seems to facilitate the process. The easier to communicate, the faster the change happens. Every time there is an improvement in the technology with which ideas and people come together, major change ensue.
What a profound statement. Look at the current technology. Look at how the social webs are changing the landscape of how ideas propagate across the world.
Ironically, sharing of ideas triggers more ideas. This is so critical to any inventor. In my opinion, the rate of innovation is going to increase substantially because when you have ideas being propagated and shared globally, it creates a trigger effect for new ideas -- at the speed of infinite.
Tags: Connections, James Burke, innovation, inventions, inventors
Views: 18
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by damir perge on -
Interesting inventor fact:
The most fundamental invention in the history of man, and the innovation that brought civilization into being -- the scratch plough ("plow" in American ).
Hell, I thought it was the invention of the wheel but when I think about it, Burke is right. It is the plough (plow).
When I lived in Yugoslavia, we had a farm. In my younger years, my parents hired people to plough (plow) the fields with a plough (plow) and a horse -- like the Egyptians did with an ox. I hate to admit it, (because it dates me a little), I have actually tried to plow the field when I was a little kid just to see how it works.
Only some years later, did my parents source a tractor to automate the process of plowing.
The traditional plow is still in existence across the globe on some countries. Can you believe it? Welcome to the 21st century. -
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Permalink Reply by Christoph Schmidt on -
Well Damir,
Some of that is true, but real inventions mean also that there has never been the same thing or idea in that way before. The next step is much harder. It is to convince people and investors how it works and that your invention has a future. Around the WWW age my banker asked me to save the $10 for CompuServe for each month "... Email and internet won't have a future" and that it it is no need for such stuff. Now you can imagine why we recently ran in such banking crises, right? -
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Permalink Reply by damir perge on
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Hi Christoph.
Thanks. Now, I am 1000% sure I am not going to listen to my banker for tips on innovation, inventing and emerging markets. :-)
From what I am seeing, there are three types of inventions:
1. Kaizen Inventions: (continuous improvement inventions).
I used the word "kaizen" from Japan. It means continuous improvement and Taiichi Ohno (Toyota Production System) used the term to improve the manufacturing process -- but in reality it can be used to improve anything. Hey, I try to kaizen myself every day.
2. Functional Inventions: (substitute inventions).
These type of inventions substitute one form for another. For instance, in transportation, the flying car invention is trying to eliminate the traditional car. I'd say it could take off in about 30 to 50 years. I hope sooner.
3. Revolutionary Inventions: (disruptive products). The computer was such an invention. When IBM decided to build their first computer, their business research indicated that the global marker for computers was only 7 computers. Yes, this is a true story.
But all three type of inventions need money, capital, moola, dough, cash -- whatever you want to call it -- to get going.
I spoke to a friend of mine last week and he was going to a college forum to listen to the inventor of Segway. He asked me what questions he should ask the inventor. I couldn't think of any at the moment. He further clarified with the key question: "what is the most pressing problem for inventors?"
I simply said, "money."
"That would be correct," was his answer. -
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Permalink Reply by Jana Arnold on -
Speaking of flying cars.. check out the Terrafugia Transition. Only $200k!
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Permalink Reply by damir perge on
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I'm reading the book, Mathematics for the Million by Lancelot Hogben. It has some very cool stuff. it goes through the history of mathematics. One of my sayings has always been that "mathematics is one of the greatest human inventions."
As I read the book, I'm seeing the progression of mathematical ideas going from one culture to the next, from one time period to another.
It's incredible to see the "math invention" propagate in every part of the human culture. One invention in particular has become disruptive: the invention of "zero."
Funny, zero being a huge invention. Here's what Hogben states:
In the whole history of mathematics there has been no more revolutionary step than the one which the Hindus made when they invented the sign "0" to stand for the empty column of the counting frame."
-- Mathematics for the Million, page 39.
When I think about it, zero is revolutionary. As I progress in reading the book, I'm sure another revolutionary concept will be the concept of infinity and limits. -
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Permalink Reply by damir perge on
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Inventions leading to more inventions leading to profits.
I just read some cool historical facts in Connections. In Chapter 2, "The Road from Alexandria," I learned about the evolution of sails and ships.
Because I didn't know anything about sailing, it was cool to understand the historical progression. Sailing used to be hampered by the design of the ships. The old Roman square sail dominated the seas of Europe for several hundred years -- even though it didn't have to be that way.
The square served the purposes of the Egyptians and Romans in crossing the Indian Ocean because the winds blew steadily one way for six months and switched direction for the other six. But the square design wasn't conducive for contrary winds of Europe. Guess, what? The sail evolved from square to a triangle -- they named it lateen.
Lateen enabled the ship to head directly into the wind. This revolutionary technology created derivative effects -- it enabled commerce to increase substantially due to increase in voyages (transportation and logistics in modern day terms). Basically, the lanteen increased the work rate of the ship 2X, saved money and obviously increased profits.
Check this out: Between 1150 and 1300, there was a growth of 30 percent in prices, profits and accumulated wealth and capital invested into commerce in the Mediterranean states conducting commerce. Further evolution of the ship was brought upon by the sternpost rudder -- which enabled the ships to steer easier. Evolution of ideas comes at a rapid pace when money is involved.
Eventually, the three inventions were combined to create the first ocean-going rig: a mixture of square sail and lateen on a cargo vessel, easily maneuvered with the help of the sternpost rudder.
Hmm...square leads to triangle leads to a new, powerful combination of both. I love it. What I got out of it from an inventor standpoint is as follows:
Tesladex Law: "if you're looking to invent a solution or solve a problem, sometime scanning random, non-related topics or ideas can enable an inventor to combine an old idea with the new idea or another existing idea for a powerful new combination.
Corollary: The easiest way to think of new ideas is to (1) combine the old with the old or (2) combine the old with the new. Disruptive technologies come from totally new ideas. But, based on my experience, every idea comes from another idea -- even if it non-related.
Darwin, for example, finalized his idea about natural selection after he came back from the Galapagos islands. But he didn't really formalize it until he read books about economics -- which proves that reading non-related ideas can help you solve problems with your own ideas or inventions.
Besides, when I was a kid I always wondered why some ships had oars on their ships and others didn't. :-) -
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Permalink Reply by damir perge on
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I just reflected on it again:
What is amazing to me about the square | triangle sail invention is the incredible amount of derivative activities it created.
The ability to sail against the wind with the lateen enabled commerce to accelerate at an incredibly rapid pace. It enabled products to be transported across the world quicker and easier -- which created new jobs, new products, new financial methods as well as more investors to invest into more products, more services, etc. Basically, it became a self-reinforced, feedback loop with increasing returns.
This is analogous with the invention of the world wide web by Tim Berners-Lee. I wonder if Tim had any idea what his invention would create when he invented it. Look a the wealth and derivative products and services, in addition to the millions of companies using the platform today to conduct commerce, communication, etc.
But Tim didn't make the most amount of money with his invention -- just like Tesla didn't either. So, inventors be aware that when you invent an idea, make sure you can think of as many possible derivative revenue streams as possible.
Tesladex Law: Disruptive technologies create millions of possible revenue combinations.
Corollary: When an inventor invents something, after he or she has invented it, they must think of as many possible combinations of the product and services as possible to find the most appealing revenue stream for them personally. -
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Permalink Reply by damir perge on
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My continuous reading of Connections lead me to the next critical invention: the compass.
Navigation in the 1200's was not easy.
According to James Burke, "the economic effects of the arrival of the compass can hardly be exaggerated."
-- Connections, page 28.
The compass is analogous to the invention of the Word Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee. Look at all the derivative businesses, inventions, products and services that came about because of the web. And it's still going. But the irony is that it is going full circle with cloud computing-- kind of.
Cloud computing is going back to the thin client | fat server days with connection | bandwidth added to it.
If the Internet compass is the World Wide Web, then what is Google? I guess Google is the tuner or kind of like a remote control of your TV.
What do you think? -
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Permalink Reply by damir perge on
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Late last night, very late, I picked up the Connections book again by James Burke. I was reading about how critical the invention of the compass was to commerce and trade across the world. Duh, you gotta have a compass to get around. Not any different than how Google has become the compass for the Internet.
The difference between the compass and Google is the fact that the inventors of Google made much more money -- and they're still making money. -
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Permalink Reply by Jana Arnold on
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We are living in an amazing time in history. Inventions were few and far between until the beginning of the 20th century. Look at the change! The last century started with the invention of the airplane, cars and the radio. There was also the tractor, teddy bear, zipper, vacuum cleaner, etc! And air conditioning was invented - which is solely responsible for Dallas becoming a large city rather than remaining a cow town. We ended the century with the internet, cell phones, computers and internet!
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