Once upon a time, a bunch of Americans wanted to make their houses look like tiny versions of beautiful manors in England, where it rains a lot and sheep keep the grass short. But, they were unwilling to have sheep, because they would always get hit by the cars. So they invented the lawnmower. At …
Inventors are the most spectacular causative agents of humanity’s progress. Today invention mostly occurs within commercial firms and universities. Commercial firms primarily seek profit. Universities seek both money and renown from invention. Both firms and universities, the two great poles of the landscape of invention today, seek to temporarily monopolize inventions through patents and other means …
Once upon a time there was a boy who wanted to be a great inventor. Books and comics and movies put that idea into his head. He was small for his age and was born pigeon-toed and cross-eyed. He was terrible at ball games. He thought that if he was a great inventor like the …
