To un-invent would be to un-think. Although, there are numerous mechanism and ways of doing business that it would be fantastic to get rid of it’s not so easy to tell us to stop thinking. If it can be conceived of, for good or ill, it will be conceived of. Since we didn’t write the laws of nature then what come out of their application was intended by a greater power, if there is such a power in the universe. Putting this aside, if I had the undiluted power to un-invent something it would processes, means and mechanisms that enable and encourage stupidity.
Tag: dailyprompt-1821
Turn the clock back
Innovation is much of a byword. Climate crisis, feeding the world, ending wars, curing disease, creating endless energy, conquering space – they can all be done if someone, somewhere, just invents something smart right now. We are greater believers in the power of “invention” than we have ever been. Doesn’t matter if sitting on the right or left of politics.
Invention and discovery are not the same. Discovery is to uncover something we had not known or understood before. However, that something was always there waiting to be discovered.
Invention is for makers and dreamers. A contraption, a connection, a way of doing business, a machine or a crazy idea. Invention has a huge spectrum. I’ve never been to the Heath Robinson Museum[1]. Now, I mean to go.
To un-invent presupposes that it can be done. It has been done in the past. The classical world benefited from inventions that were lost in the dark ages. Later to be rediscovered.
Genuinely to uninvent is hard. Human imagination, with so many people on the planet, mitigates against it. Uninventing may be a short-lived move.
My view is that it would be best to try to un-invent a damaging idea or process. For example, let’s uninvent slavery or subjugation.
John Vincent 