Nothing essentially new has been invented since the first half of the 20th century.
At first sight this seems like an idea that flies in the face of experience. Obviously, lots of exciting new things have been invented recently: PCs, mobile phones, mp3 players ... the list is endless, I hear you say.
What sort of inventions make the modern world what it is?
Internal combustion engines (1860s)
Telephones (1870s)
Radio (1880s)
Television (1920s)
Jet engine (1930s)
Computers (1940s)
Generally there is a long time lag between a discovery and its widespread use, however commercially attractive it might be. For example, radio only became widely used decades after its scientific foundations were established by Maxwell, Hertz and others. In fact, even as late as the 1970s, many households in the UK had to share their telephone on a 'party line'.
Lack of real novelty is not a new phenomenon. In Radio News, September, 1924, page 291, Hugo Gernsback wrote 'REAL radio inventions are very scarce these days. As a rule the latest radio sensation proves to be an adaptation of something that existed before, worked into a novel form ...'. Doesn't that sound familiar? What is a mobile phone but a two way radio? What is a search engine but a library (invented 300BC) on a computer?
A time-traveller from the 1920s would be perfectly at home in our modern world: cars, planes, instant communication (wired or wireless), and moving images were all around then. OK, cars were fun and aeroplanes were exciting but apart from that ...
The point is that our source of ideas for technology has dried up. There have been no fundamental physical discoveries since the 1920s when the quantum theory was formalised. This theory allowed the invention of the transistor from which all modern information technologies have evolved. Where is the scientific theory that will allow matter transportation? Or practical travel to nearby stars? Or a clean, green source of energy?
We have become utterly obsessed by economic growth and consequently we have allowed short-term commercial considerations to influence the direction of fundamental physical science research. This has been a huge mistake and The Impressionist fears we will reap the whirlwind over the next half century.
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