Keith Tompkins
Hi Jerry, thanks for the link....very interesting, but the author overlooks some very important concepts..Yes, many things we take for granted are the result of the learning process being passed from one generation to the next..we build upon what we know; otherwise, we would constantly be reinventing the wheel. The key ingredient he overlooks is individual genius. Some people do indeed learn by copying...if they lose the source they copied from...their advancement comes to a grinding halt. We see that in all aspects of life, including turning. We look to the innovators for our inspiration, while the innovator relys on a fertile mind. History is full of examples; one of my favorites is Nikola Tesla. He invented things that previously didn't exist...at all. The electric motor on your lathe. The AC current that drives it. Wireless technology. The radio...Yes, Tesla, not Marconi. These are a few of his innovations that seemingly came from NOWHERE! Genius at its best. Sir Isaac Newton. Einstein. Edison...the phonograph. Where in hell did THAT idea come from? The light bulb...years of trial and error development to create what seemed impossible. Television. People who refused to accept "that's the way things are done..that's how they've always been done". Yes, language is a key component, but the real secret is the indominable human spirit. I think the author's monkey analogy is flawed...language isn't the barrier...the lack of IQ is the real problem. Even if the monkey could speak, he couldn't tell his partner " Hey, listen chump, if we make a fire hot enough, we can take that red dirt, and melt it down into iron ore, then cast it into a really neat tool." I think that all through history individual effort and VISION, using previous knowledge as a starting point, lead to almost all innovations and advancements. Interesting study...look how resistant the medical profession has been over time to change...even in the face of overwhelming evidence. We don't always know what we think we know. The saddest part of all...if we truly learned from our collective knowledge, there would be no more war. No drug abuse. No senseless murders. No child abuse. No poverty and starvation. Despite all our knowledge and technology, they all still exist. As the Pete Seeger song goes "when will they ever learn? "