The Myths of Innovation

Chapter 2. We understand the history of innovation

History is written by those who win and those who dominate.

— Edward Said

History is the lie commonly agreed upon.

— Voltaire

History is a damn dim candle over a damn dark abyss.

— W. S. Holt

History is indeed the witness of the times, the light of truth.

— Cicero

In the Egyptian wing of London’s British Museum, I hovered by the Rosetta Stone, waiting for the guards to look away. When a child stumbled over the corner of a lesser relic, distracting the guards, I moved in. Holding my breath, I reached over the steel barrier, stretched out my trembling hand, and ran it across the letters on the Stone.^[22] My fingertips gently stroked the cold surface, racing along ancient corners of mysterious symbols: in one motion, I touched more history than fills many men’s dreams. With my hand back at my side, I strolled away, ashamed and thrilled, praying against alarms and handcuffs that never came. I didn’t wash that hand all day, lost in imagining the important men behind the Stone (see Figure 2-1).

But when the thrill of my museum mischief faded, one frustration remained: the Stone is famous for reasons irrelevant to those who conceived it. The stonecutters could not have imagined their work in a European museum 2,000 years in the future, with hired guards protecting it from hooligans like me. Yet, there it sat, as if its destiny was to be found ...