Inventors & Inventions

1+1=3 Accidents plus luck: the sum of innovation is greater than its parts

The daily avalanche of technological innovations that make our lives easier and at the same time more complicated puts most people in a vexed mood--like the depressive who gets time out from his clinic and goes to the beach for a few days. He sends his psychiatrist a postcard. The message he writes might well have come from any of us, a reflection of technology's affect on our lives: "Having a wonderful time. Why?"

More than ever, the only constant in modern life is change. By the time we get around to reading the manual, we know that the offer of...

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