So I have a friend, let's call him "M" who on the whole is a pretty technical guy: Mechanical Engineer, worked in the software industry, worked for a couple of startups, etc.  He also generally likes technology and gets the benefit of what it has done and is doing for society.

He has made an interesting argument to me that I find hard to refute.

"M"s argument goes about like this:

There have been only a few true scientific breakthroughs since WWII that truly have been impactful on our lives.  I include true new technology, not improvements on existing technology.

My candidates include:

• Transistor
• Integrated circuit (although this could be argued as an improvement on the transistor)
• Laser
• Some medicines, particularly the pill
• Human (and others) genome work

I can’t think of any others.  There certainly have been improvements on existing technology galore, but little new science that has made a difference.

Pretty good stimulus for thought and discussion, isn’t it?

"M"

Ps.  Things like nuclear energy, rockets, radio, television, telephones, vaccines, antibiotics, surgery, airplanes, cars, central heat, fresh water, sewage treatment, computers, etc. all were invented/developed prior or during WWII.

Now admittedly, he does narrow the playing field with the constraint of "new" and "impactful". The way I would argue against his point of view would be with a two pronged approach

1. Find the precursors to the inventions he already listed.
2. Argue the in the new world, the chief benefit comes from extending technology and not creating new out of whole cloth.

Assignment For the reader

But If we go from his starting point I have a question for the audience, an assignment.

Excluding the list above, what new inventions have had an impact on society? Since WW2? Since 1960? Since 1995?

Make it new and make it impactful. I'll be doing a follow up post or two on this subject because it is fascinating. What if there has been no new invetions? Does it matter? Do we still need them? Does the law of accellerating returns require new inventions? Are new scientists and engineers and entrepreneurs still looking for anything truly "new"?