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Some history lessons


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The Industrial Revolution

 

A lot of people think that the use of automated machinery in factories completely transformed the world, but this is not the case, it's just one iteration in a long line of technology. For those of us who remember pedal-operated looms, for example, the mechanisms are virtually the same, it's just that you had to have a person there operating it. So no, the move to automated weaving didn't really change anything. It was just the last step, and that last step doesn't represent a Revolutionary Change.

 

Printing in Early Modern Europe

 

People always point to Gutenberg as being the game changer, but they are always looking for that one.big.thing. that changed everything, but the truth is: there was printing before Gutenberg, and it's ... an evolution. You think about that Gutenberg Bible, but there were bibles before then made by the monastics. For those monks who'd been writing for years, movable type was just the last step, and that last step doesn't represent a Revolutionary Change.

 

Sliced Bread

 

People are always quick to talk about the greatness of "sliced bread", but this view is myopic. In fact, the first man to slice bread was Egyptian in the year 568BC. Yes, it's true they had flat unleavened bread, but think about it. All you need is a knife or a sharp object and something to cut. For those people who'd figured out years ago how to use a knife, sliced bread was just the last step in the evolution of bread, and that last step doesn't represent a Revolutionary Change.

 

The Wheel

 

History has very much overrated the importance and impact of the wheel. In fact, it was the ancient dung beetle that first figured out how to roll shit down a field. To those dung beetles, the wheel was just an evolution, the latest step in rolling technology. It certainly, absolutely, definitively, did not represent a Revolutionary Change.

 

Fire

 

A great deal is made of the discovery of fire. Kids watching The Jungle Book for example, myopically, think that this is a great leap forward for mankind. Absolutely not. Before man-made fire was ever around, there were volancos, lava, and the sun. To those of us who were around to see pre-man-made heat, the idea of heating things up was nothing new. Indeed, the camp fire was just the last step in the evolution of heating things up -- not at all a Revolutionary Change. :)

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