Rants: 12/19/2005 11:43:06 PM
Everything that can be invented has been invented
In 1899, Charles Duell supposedly said the above statement. We cannot say in ignorance, because our time not known in his year. The millions of creations have been invented since then, he did not know. Obviously a thoughtless statement taken out of context.
Another quote, a half of a century earlier, brought a similar message: “The advancement of the arts, from year to year, taxes our credulity and seems to presage the arrival of that period when human improvement must end."
It is fun to find humour in statements which deny our own time exists, but we need not to ignore the deeper meaning. Could it be that these two men were right? Has advancement halted?
Think about your day. Have you driven a car? Have you used a computer, used a pencil, or wrapped a Christmas gift? Most likely so. There is something very surprising with being able to use all of these wonderful tools: You don't know how they work or how to make them. Even for the simplest of tools this is true. What materials are pencils made of? How should the wood be cut and processed? What mixer of materials go into the graphite? How are they mined or manufactured? What is the eraser made out of? What machines put the pencil together? How is the electricity that powers the machines generated? Each question leads to hundreds more, but the conclusion is the same. You do not know how to make the pencil you use. Society has made the pencil so complex, it would be impossible for you to know. No one knows how to make even the common pencil.
Of course, we cannot forget that intimate knowledge of details in creating pencils, cars, and computers is not needed for their proper operation. We don't care about that. All we care about is it works. Seems to be reverse of what we would expect an inventive society to be.
A truth we all have come to realize is you can make it through your day without knowing anything. All the thought into making clothes, cars, and computers is all ready done for you. Immensely complex systems have been reduced to the turn of a key.
Indeed, the age of human thought has ended.
Another quote, a half of a century earlier, brought a similar message: “The advancement of the arts, from year to year, taxes our credulity and seems to presage the arrival of that period when human improvement must end."
It is fun to find humour in statements which deny our own time exists, but we need not to ignore the deeper meaning. Could it be that these two men were right? Has advancement halted?
Think about your day. Have you driven a car? Have you used a computer, used a pencil, or wrapped a Christmas gift? Most likely so. There is something very surprising with being able to use all of these wonderful tools: You don't know how they work or how to make them. Even for the simplest of tools this is true. What materials are pencils made of? How should the wood be cut and processed? What mixer of materials go into the graphite? How are they mined or manufactured? What is the eraser made out of? What machines put the pencil together? How is the electricity that powers the machines generated? Each question leads to hundreds more, but the conclusion is the same. You do not know how to make the pencil you use. Society has made the pencil so complex, it would be impossible for you to know. No one knows how to make even the common pencil.
Of course, we cannot forget that intimate knowledge of details in creating pencils, cars, and computers is not needed for their proper operation. We don't care about that. All we care about is it works. Seems to be reverse of what we would expect an inventive society to be.
A truth we all have come to realize is you can make it through your day without knowing anything. All the thought into making clothes, cars, and computers is all ready done for you. Immensely complex systems have been reduced to the turn of a key.
Indeed, the age of human thought has ended.
Not officially (should be announced later today), but a nice friendly 1.5 directory popped up on