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
“Smelting of ore”, “bronze”, and “iron” seem like they are either duplicates or not specific enough to be a “general purpose technology”. On the flip side, I would argue for the inclusion of radio, distinct from electricity.
There’s also a notable lack of chemical processes other than “smelting”. Electrolysis, nitrogen fixation (Haber-Bosch), and cement would be good contenders.
