Radiolab: What Does Technology Want?

A carbon filament lamp.

In this radio program from Radiolab Steven Johnson (author of Where Good Ideas Come From) and Kevin Kelly (author of What Technology Wants) discuss how and why inventions and ideas come about at perticular times.  Pointing out that certain inventions, such as the light bulb, will be invented by many different people in different places within the same short period of time.  Even though this invention might not have even been conceived of only a few years before.  For example, apparently there were up to twenty two different inventors of different versions of the incandescent light bulb before Thomas Edison invented is own version.  The version that would light up the world.

They go on to discuss why this is the case, noting that many inventions and ideas -lets just call them innovations- require other related innovations to come before them.  They note that each successful innovation builds off many different innovations that come before them.  For example, the light bulb could never have been invented with out advances in vacuum technology and glass blowing techniques that would allow a vacuum to be produced inside an incandescent light bulb.  Not to mention the need for electricity to have been developed before hand along with an effective method of reliably and economically generating it.

I think Isaac Newton said this best when he said:  "If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants."

You can listen to the full show on Radiolab here.

Quote of the show: "You are technology."
It makes more sense then it sounds when you hear the show.