A Brief History of Innovation

Let’s innovate. Innovation is wonderful; it produces wealth and creates jobs and pushes the economy to new heights.

Innovation: A Janus Proposition

Not so fast. Innovation brings medical advances, saves lives, generates jobs, and more. But the process of innovation is not totally positive. That is why I call it a Janus proposition; Janus was the Greek two-headed god who could look both ways. Innovation is also two-headed; it is neutral; how we use it adds or takes away value. Innovations can be created in order to cause pain; the unintended consequences of innovations can cause huge problems. I cannot tell the whole history of innovation, but I can tell some snippets from history.

A school child in the United States ...

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