I am reading The New Wave, the last book from Microsoft AI CEO Suleyman. He mentioned that a massive study pegged down the General Purpose Technologies to be only 24 in the last 10000 years (so fire is not included for example), but I can’t find the study. Does anybody know the study? This is the list btw:
Domestication of plants Domestication of animals Smelting of ore Money Wheel Writing Bronze Iron Water wheel Three-masted sailing ship Printing Factory system Steam Engine Railways Steamship Internal combustion engine Electricity Automobile Airplane Mass production Computer Lean production Internet Biotechnology
EDIT: I found the source https://www.amazon.com/Economic-Transformations-General-Purpose-Technologies/dp/019929089X
That seens quite haphasard as a list, “three masted sailing ship” ? What purpose technology is that?
Maybe he just tries to box together things that have moved humanity forward? But then he forgets penicillin or medicine, space science (rockets, GPS,…), the internet, lots of stuff. Sounds like someone who thinks he knows it all but, surprise, doesn’t.
And as a CEO he feels “lean production” is one of them. Of course.
Nah mate, didn’t you notice he tacked on “biotechnology” at the end? Lumping several fields of science and engineering into one entry is what gave him the space to highlight “three masted sailing ships” and “lean production”.
And metalworking multiple times!