The aim of this project is to use historical and current examples as a learning mechanism to help seize the benefits of the future. By examining areas where we could have made progress sooner yet did not, we can understand the impediments to progress and learn from them. We call these impediments, "Civilization Stalls," or simply "stalls." These stalls were mostly due to the ways that people thought about progress. Technology was not the real problem. Historically, once we have overcome these stalls, rapid streams of progress have followed.
In this section we will give examples of major developments that came when people changed the way they thought about progress. Clicking on each underlined heading will allow you to find out more.
Floating a Revolution on Moveable Type
Once an idea is implemented or a discovery is made, it can set into motion a sudden chain of events that can benefit all of humanity. Moveable type for printing European languages enabled a rapid spread of literacy, communication and education throughout the world. However, it was delayed because of secrets and status blocks.A Readable Feast: Implications of Moveable Type
Had moveable type been invented 1000 years earlier, the industrial revolution might have occurred in the first millennium, not 150 years before the second.It's Economic Bread Mold, Stupid
Western medicine's use of penicillin for killing bacteria in humans has saved thousands of lives and improved quality of life. However, for a long time, many people didn't think that chemicals could help treat infection.Indentured Servants Can't Buy Model T Fords
Until the Industrial Revolution, slavery was widely assumed to be the most profitable means of production. However, replacing slavery with wage paid labor in many parts of the world did not just cure a social ill, it created much faster economic growth. Workers around the world were given the purchasing power to own their own cars, turning the workforce into a vital market of consumers.
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