How Technologies Come Into Being

 

W. Brian Arthur - Santa Fe Institute and Palo Alto Research Center

 

Abstract: Societies and economies form in no small way around their technologies. How then do technologies form? In particular how do radically novel modern technologies—such as radar, the turbojet, or the laser printer—come into existence?

    This question was fashionable 70 years ago, when a small group of American social scientists (Ogburn, Usher, and Kaempffert, among others) produced theories of invention. But recent decades have seen these theories discredited, and what “invention” consists in is now assumed to be imponderable.

    Arthur will argue that “invention” is not imponderable. It is a process with a logical structure common across all historical cases; a process of linking some purpose or need with an effect that can be exploited to satisfy it. It may begin with a purpose or need for which existing methods are not satisfactory; this forces the seeking of a new principle (the idea of an effect in action). Or it may begin with a phenomenon or effect itself—usually a freshly discovered one—for which some associated principle of use suggests itself. Either way, translating this base principle into physical reality requires the creation of suitable working parts and supporting technologies. These raise their own challenges or problems, the solution of which may raise further challenges. As a result, invention is a recursive process: it repeats until each challenge or problem (and subproblem, and sub-subproblem) resolves itself into one that can be physically dealt with.