Quick, run out and get this week's Time History Issue, or at least print out these articles! "The Making of America: Thomas Edison" http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1999143,00.html
The lessons learned during last year's innovation study are not to be forgotten, but moved forward into the next phase of exploration.
The Time article states that "much of the world we live in today is a legacy of Edison and his devotion to science and innovation," and lists Edison's three major inventions — the incandescent bulb, the phonograph, and the kinetograph (a movie projector), crediting the inventor with "giving birth to three enduring American industries: electrical power, recorded music, and motion pictures." But it is shortsighted to think of innovation as a property of industry. Edison himself really didn't see or understand the true potential of his inventions, and the recording and film industries were not a part of the initial vision. The actual use for the phonograph and the kinetograph came when the artists began to create art, pushing the technology in a new whole direction. Artists have as much of a hand in the discoveries that have changed the world, but artists are rarely credited for their important role in exploring and pushing the boundaries of how new technologies can be employed.
Educators talk about the importance of 21st Century learning and how to best prepare today's children to tackle and solve some of the today's biggest problems. As a creative person, I hope that we can reveal that artists have an important role to play in the innovation equation. I read the Time article and wonder why science and technology are placed in the center of the spotlight, and the artists are kept in hiding in the wings.
Can't we widen the spotlight a bit so that the entire creative team can take a bow?
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