Drivers for the Evolution of Technology...

Hi...

recently I joined the audio-book community and I got hold of a German magazine and an article within which really captured attention.

I am interested in innovation and how it comes together. One of my favourites here is a book called "The Art of Innovation" by Tom Kelly. He discribes the work life within a company called ideo. Really nice and I tried to import some ideas into my environment here.

Now I learned about the ideas of an Austrian researcher called Mathias Horx. I like most of his ideas except that I am missing a driver for Technology Evolution (or Technolution how he calls it). He listed (at least in the article) 4 main drivers:

1. Mobility (something that remained from the days when our ancestors used to hunt)

2. Seeking Power (we all buy that)

3. The wish to rationalize

4. To control the forces of nature

OK. But one thing is missing I suppose. It's the human factor in my eyes. All of us are part of a group and most of us define themselves also by using the rank within such groups. Being part of a community and the will to contribute (sometimes without even getting rewarded but most of the times because we get at least prestige out of it) is a typical human thing. Maybe this is already in the list (Point 2) but I don't see it this way.

Does this drive innovation (otherwise it wouldn't be necessary to list it anyway)? Yes, I think so. Innovation is more than having a good idea in the first place. The idea has to be developed which can take years and consumes lots of efforts sometimes. And being rewarded by a community can be payment enough to go through those efforts.

So I would like to add a fifth point... what do you mean?

CU

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