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Welcome to our innovation and creativity page.
02-02-2000: (E. Moritz)
This page will provide continuing monologs and dialogues regarding
innovation in the hope of stimulating thought, creativity, and thinking about
thinking. [Note, yes there are Amazon book links
on the side, and on other pages on this site. Like all other mere mortals,
I do have to pay for this site and for internet access, so if there's something
that appeals to you, by all means buy it through these links -- its for a good
cause - as I hope you discover in this and future discussions]
What is this all about? Well the concept is pretty simple. We all
benefit from advances in human knowledge. Yet we really do not fully
appreciate the way knowledge is created and innovations occur. So I will bring
out some thoughts that perhaps can help illuminate (some of) the way
forward. The method .. really pretty plain ... just asking
questions. Asking the RIGHT question is pretty much most of the job.
What are we looking for ? Overwhelming insight!
Yes, we do have incredible universities and laboratories.
Yes, there are incredible bright and some brilliant people around. And
yes fantastic advances have been made and continue to be made. So is there
any need for more advances?
Sure there is.
Consider this, in 60 AD -
Roman Emperor, Nero, uses
emerald lenses to view gladiator games. Magnifying glasses only became common in
fourteenth century,
where craftsmen in Venice make small disks of glass, convex on both sides, that could be worn in a
frame--spectacles. (The earliest illustrations of spectacles date from about 1350).
So between Nero's emerald lens and the spectacle there's a gulf of about 1300
years. Pretty sad considering that many people could not contribute to
their fullest potential because of 'vision' problems.
But this is not the end of the story. In fact, the Lanyard Lens, discovered at Nimrod by Lanyard,
is datable to 721-705 BC. This lens is thought to be the first example of a
plano-convex lens. So now we are really talking about 2000 years between
the possibility of corrective lenses and their first wide use.
Are we done? NO!
Consider this.
Around 1608, someone took two lenses and put them one in front of the other
... A miracle occurred!
Dateline: Netherlands, October 1608: Hans Lipperhey applies for patent of a device for "seeing faraway things as though nearby." It consisted of a convex and concave lens in a tube, and the combination magnified three or four times.
This is the first time the optical "Killer App" is spelled out.
(Earliest known illustration of a
telescope. Giovanpattista della Porta included this sketch in a letter written in August 1609.)
Galileo constructs his first three-powered spyglass in June or July
1609. Soon after he presents an eight-powered instrument to the Venetian Senate in August, and
turns a twenty-powered instrument to the heavens in October or November.
At that moment the heavens are turned on the Catholic Church, and mankind
takes its first truly giant step forward. so now its approximately 2300
years between the first evidence of a lens and humanity's giant step forward.
From Galileo's time (and the invention of the microscope soon after), to now its
less than 400 years.
Just think for a moment. WHAT IF humanity had the telescope 2300 years
ago? What if Kepler had gotten Galileo letter 2300 years earlier? Where
would we be today?
WHY were telescopes invented so late? WHY didn't that occur earlier?
HOW can we avoid repeating this kind of tragic waste?
by the way ... Kepler, upon seeing the details of he moon was instantly
struck by the notion of getting to the moon. (insight
in hindsight: if you can see it, you can reach it - so it pays to look).
You can read about it in This
New Ocean : The Story of the First Space Age
by William E. Burrows.
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future topics:
More on Lenses
The story of Scurvy
Einstein's A&B Coefficients
Computers - we haven't begun to scratch the surface.
you can write to echo - at - omega23.com
below are some links to innovation related titles. The first one is a
must have!
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This book got me started on the
topic.
Diffusion
of Innovations -- Everett M. Rogers
this is now a classic!
if
nothing else
get this book.
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other titles to consider.
New bibliographic additions are at our
inlogosveritas site.
- Information
Systems Innovation and Diffusion : Issues and Directions (Series in
Information Technology Management)
- Eugene McGuire(Editor), Tor Jermud Larsen (Editor) / Hardcover / Published
1998
- Accelerating
Innovation : Improving the Process of Product Development
- Marvin L. Patterson, Sam Lightman / Hardcover / Published 1997
- Achieving
Planned Innovation : A Proven System for Creating Successful New Products
and Services
- Frank R., Jr. Bacon, Thomas W., Jr. Butler / Hardcover / Published 1998
- Action
Research : From Practice to Writing in an International Action Research
Development Program (Dialogues on Work and Innovation, V. 8)
- Davydd J. Greenwood(Editor) / Hardcover / Published 1999
- An
Anxious Pursuit : Agricultural Innovation and Modernity in the Lower South,
1730-1815
- Joyce E. Chaplin / Hardcover / Published 1993
- Architecture,
Industry and Innovation : The Early Work of Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners
- Colin Amery / Hardcover / Published 1995
- Art
and Innovation: The Xerox PARC Artist-In-Residence Program
- Craig Harris(Preface), John Seely Brown (Introduction) / Hardcover /
Published 1999
- The
Art of Discovery : Fueling Innovation for Company Growth (Best Management
Practices)
- Wayne M. Bundy, et al / Paperback / Published 1997
- Art,
Innovation, and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Benin
- Paula Girshick Ben-Amos, Paula Girshick / Hardcover / Published 1999
- Benchmarking
for Best Practice : Continuous Learning Through Sustainable Innovation
- Mohamed Zairi / Paperback / Published 1998
- Best
Practice : Process Innovation Management
- Mohamed Zairi(Editor) / Hardcover / Published 1999
- Biomimicry
: Innovation Inspired by Nature
- Janine M. Benyus / Hardcover / Published 1997
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- Broken
Crayons: Break Your Crayons and Draw Outside the Lines
- Robert Alan Black / Paperback / Published 1998
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- Cases
in Financial Engineering: Applied Studies of Financial Innovation
- Scott P. Mason, et al / Hardcover / Published 1994
- Century
of Innovation : A History of European and American Theatre and Drama Since
the Late Nineteenth Century
- Robert Findlay(Contributor), Oscar Gross Brockett / Hardcover / Published
1991
- Challenging
the State : Crisis and Innovation in Latin America and Africa (Cambridge
Studies in Comparative Politics)
- Merilee Serrill Grindle / Paperback / Published 1996
- The
Change Masters : Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the American Corporation
- Rosabeth Moss Kanter / Paperback / Published 1985
- Changing
by Design : A Practical Approach to Leading Innovation in Nonprofit
Organizations (Jossey-Bass Nonprofit Sector Series)
- Douglas C. Eadie, Alan Shrader (Editor) / Hardcover / Published 1997
- Changing
by Design : Organizational Innovation at Hewlett-Packard
- Deone Zell / Hardcover / Published 1997
- The
Circle of Innovation : You Can't Shrink Your Way to Greatness
- Thomas J. Peters, et al / Hardcover / Published 1997
- The
Circle of Innovation : You Can't Shrink Your Way to Greatness (Cassette)
[ABRIDGED]
- Thomas J. Peters, Tom Peters (Reader) / Audio Cassette
/ Published 1997
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- Cooperative
Learning in Context : An Educational Innovation in Everyday Classrooms (Suny
Series, the Social Context of Education)
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- Corporate
Creativity : How Innovation and Improvement Actually Happen
- Alan G. Robinson, Sam Stern (Contributor) / Hardcover / Published 1997
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- Corporate
Creativity : How Innovation and Improvement Actually Happen [ABRIDGED]
- Alan G. Robinson, Sam Stern (Reader) / Audio Cassette
/ Published 1998
- Creating
the Digital Future : The Secrets of Consistent Innovation at Intel
- Albert Yu / Hardcover / Published 1998
- Creating
Value in the Digital Era : Achieving Success Through Insight, Imagination
and Innovation
- Alf Chattell / Hardcover / Published 1998
- The
Creative Priority : Driving Innovation in the Real World [ABRIDGED]
- Jerry Hirsberg, Jerry Hirshberg (Reader) / Audio Cassette
/ Published 1998
- The
Creative Priority : Putting Innovation to Work in Your Business
- Jerry Hirshberg / Paperback / Published 1999
- Creative
Technological Change : The Shaping of Technology and Organisations
(Management of Technology and Innovation)
- Ian McLoughlin / Hardcover / Published 1999
- Creativity
and Innovation : The Astd Trainer's Sourcebook
- Elaine Biech, et al / Paperback / Published 1996
- Creativity
and Innovation for Managers
- Brian Clegg / Paperback / Published 1999
- Creativity,
Innovation, and Quality
- Paul E. Plsek / Hardcover / Published 1997
- Innovation
Diffusion and Political Control of Energy Technologies : A Comparison of
Combined Heat and Power Generation in the Uk and
- Karl Matthias Weber / Paperback / Published 1999
- Innovation,
Investment and the Diffusion of Technology in Europe : German Direct
Investment and Economic Growth in Postwar Europe (National Institute)
- Ray Barrell(Editor), Nigel Pain (Editor) / Hardcover / Published 1999
- Owning
the Future
- Seth Shulman / Hardcover / Published 1999
- Political
Innovation in America : The Politics of Policy Initiation
- Nelson W. Polsby / Hardcover / Published 1984
- 40
Principles: TRIZ Keys to Technical Innovation
- Genrikh Altshuller, et al / Paperback /
Published 1997
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take a look also at these links:
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