Politics, Innovation, and History

Part of this month is looking at history and culture. A particular video I watched talks about history and timelines and what’s usually included. Inventions and sometimes the implementation of simple ideas have changed the world, but are often not prioritized as they perhaps should be.

The invention of the transatlantic telegraph was monumental to society as a whole but we’re more likely to remember that World War 2 started in 1939. The invention of the internet has changed our world, communication, and economics among other things, but we’re more likely to know the names of presidents than we are to know the name of the man that started it. Not that the political items are bad, but we should know both. 

The lecturer of the particular video this post was inspired by argued that politics aren’t as important to the world as inventions and innovations. I would push back on that a little because of how the government has interfered with culture up to this point. From trying to put net neutrality through to developing NASA to the development of the national highway system. All of these affected the private sector and our culture as a whole.

So yes we should care more about innovation, but it can go hand in hand with the rest of the historical dates we have learned as we need to learn from everything in the past.