The history of how America
emerged as the premier superpower in the world is about more than just a great
military or a homeland so rich in natural resources that we were able to become
the breadbasket of the world. There are
many forces that combined in the American experiment that has made this country
so great. One of those great forces is
the phenomenal inventive minds that have graced America virtually since its
inception. Starting with the powerful
mind of Benjamin Franklin, the history of inventions that started in America
and transformed the world is lengthy indeed.
The computer has become so
much a part of our lives that we forget that it was once invented. The history of the development of this “futuristic”
device is long and filled with genius.
The actual first prototypes of the computer were developed by the
Defense Department, which is oddly the source of a lot of the great innovations
in American history. But it was the
early PC developers including Steve Wozniac, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates that
took the computer to the level of familiarity we know it to be now and made
computers a part of our everyday lives.
Most world changing
inventions have a profoundly positive influence on mankind’s quality of
life. But an invention that did not
improve life but destroyed it is also an American invention that changed the
world. That invention, of course, is the
Atomic Bomb. Developed by the fabled “Manhattan
Project”, this bomb changed everything about war, diplomacy and the way nations
relate to one another. And to find a
positive amongst all the death the bombings in Japan brought about, that bomb
may be one of the key elements that brought an end to a horrific war, World War
II. And in the long run, that is a
conflict that the world breathed a sigh of relief when it came to an end.
There is a joke that makes
its rounds frequently during political jesting that “Al Gore invented the
internet.” If he had invented it, he
would be a world changing inventor for sure.
But it is not out of line to declare that America invented the
internet. Again, the original primitive retypes
for what became our modern internet was the work of the American Defense Department
as a measure to insure that America’s computer security was guarded by
decentralizing the network. From this
simple goal, the vast World Wild Web has emerged that has transformed
everything about how we look at communication, information and knowledge. We have American ingenuity to thank for that.
But of the thousands of American
inventions that have done so much in the fields of medicine, technology,
research and communications, none can compare to an invention by a brilliant thinker
by the name of Henry Ford. That
invention, obviously, is the automobile.
Just like with some of the other inventions we have talked about, we can
hardly imagine a time where there was no such thing as an automobile.
Mr. Ford’s amazing invention
literally transformed society not just in America but around the world. From it came the freeway system and an
overhaul to how cities and towns are organized and linked together. And while there are downsides to the
widespread use of automobiles, it has been a huge leap forward for America and
civilization as a whole. And Mr. Ford,
like any of the inventors we have talked about and thousands we have not, would
see the betterment of mankind as their greatest calling. America has hosted this great calling for
centuries and will continue to produce brilliant inventors such as these for a
long time to come.
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