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

You are viewing a single thread.
View all comments View context
6 points
*

he forgets penicillin or medicine

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”.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

And metalworking multiple times!

permalink
report
parent
reply

Community stats

  • 1.9K

    Monthly active users

  • 731

    Posts

  • 3.3K

    Comments