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إبراهيم أشعياء عوض interesting. what sort of inventions and why/do you mean inventions like insulin, the light-bulb, or philosophical inventions like Plato's synthesis of Heraclitus and Parmenides?
Like · Reply · 9 December at 17:54 · Edited
Stan Burfield computers, farming, fire, the wheel, printing press, you know. Philosophy is fun. Wars are a way some people die. But cell phones change the course fo history.
Like · Reply · 9 December at 20:25
إبراهيم أشعياء عوض yes, and somethings I thought were invented actually evolved.
Unlike · Reply · 1 · 9 December at 20:34
إبراهيم أشعياء عوض What was the title of the Ondaantje book you quoted?
Like · Reply · 9 December at 20:35
Stan Burfield The Cat's Table
Like · Reply · 9 December at 21:05
Stan Burfield
إبراهيم أشعياء عوض Give me an example.
Like · Reply · 9 December at 21:06
إبراهيم أشعياء عوض relish.
Like · Reply · 9 December at 21:19
Stan Burfield Ha ha. Well, I guess you could say that all inventions evolved from things that came before them, as did relish. For instance, the rifle evolved from the muscat. The cooking fire probably evolved from the lightning fire.
Like · Reply · 9 December at 21:21
إبراهيم أشعياء عوض Ah-ha-ha, that's quite funny. cooking still evolves to suit human needs.
Like · Reply · 9 December at 21:23
Stan Burfield Sure like all inventions. Maybe some inventions come from pure curiosity or an excited mind, but they wouldn't go anywhere but the guy's basement.
Like · Reply · 9 December at 21:25
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Stan Burfield My quote from the Ondaatje book in my previous post was about looking back on how things developed after they've happened. Well, nowdays it's pretty obvious, looking back on the long-term impact of previous wars and of inventions, that it was the inventions that changed the world. In no time, a good invention is everywhere, in every country, no matter who runs the country, or which people hate which people.
Like · Reply · 2 · 9 December at 22:03 · Edited
إبراهيم أشعياء عوض it's also kind of tragic that always, the well-to-do, the bourgeoisie, the middle class access and control the technology, and therefore, knowingly or unknowingly determine which voices are heard - so it's rarely for the people, by the people. Michael Ondaatje is a rare and powerful voice of the people. Have you read 'Coming Through Slaughter?
Like · Reply · 10 December at 08:10 · Edited
Stan Burfield I agree. No, this is his first book I've read. I saw The English Patient as a movie, and then got through part of the book but didn't finish it, which is too bad, I can see now.
Like · Reply · 10 December at 13:29
إبراهيم أشعياء عوض In The Skin of a Lion is a brilliant novel about building the Harris Filtration Plant in Toronto/highly recommended and just a good read.
Like · Reply · 10 December at 14:28 · Edited
Stan Burfield Ha ha. I always thought it was some exotic adventure in an Eastern country!
Like · Reply · 10 December at 14:55
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Linda Eva Williams Both, I think. Conflict may arise when said inventions are appropriated by those in power, which may generate conflict.
Like · Reply · 9 December at 22:42
Stan Burfield Actually many inventions were invented FOR conflict, and propagated rapidly because of it. But it was always the invention that lasted. Wars alway die out and disappear, along with the killed people. The invention keeps going, and evolves into better and more inventions. The wars always turn out to be just politics, and a lot of emotion.
Like · Reply · 9 December at 22:47
Linda Eva Williams Well, most major medical inventions were born out of war: orthopedic surgery, major trauma wounds, plastic surgery, burn treatment, psychological treatment... list goes on.
Like · Reply · 1 · 9 December at 22:51
Stan Burfield Good point. And they are used in all wars afterwards, and during peacetime.
Like · Reply · 1 · 9 December at 22:53