9 May 2005 - cycle of invention

Once upon a time, twenty years ago and more, new inventions were first invented, then understood later—if ever. That made for cool stories. Today, more and more we’re understanding first and deliberately leveraging our newfound... blah blah. That makes for dull stories, sea voyages without storms. No one will want to become an inventor, progress will slow to a halt, and we’ll enter a new dark age. Hurry, hurry, somebody invent a way to watch TV without electricity!