Make a SYSTEMIC invention 'The invention of basic things frontier' is still there, it has just moved. It's no longer in making new gadgets, but in re-creating our aging professions, that the spirit of invention will now truly make a difference.
REFLECTION: Inventions are normally made to save us time and effort, by making our work more efficient and effective. Think about today's professions as large-scale mechanisms—not something we sit in and drive, or keep in a corner of our bathroom or kitchen, but something we ourselves are part of, yet something which entirely decides how effective our eight hours of daily work will be—and what the effects will be. The invention frontier expands when enabling technology meets new perceived human needs. And the most far-reaching inventions begin by perceiving this frontier. Can you do this today? Think about the (information) technology of the day meeting a most vital yet not sufficiently perceived need.
There is, however, a catch; in fact two catches: One is that a profession is not something we can hold in our hands and inspect. They are not only much larger than us, but our education is largely teaching us how to perform in them as they are! So even if they may be arbitrarily misconstructed, we may still not be able to see that!
And then even if do see that our professions are calling for re-design—how can we do that practically?
Proceed now to the Game START node. What you will find is that those 'two catches' are the themes of the Vision Quest and the Action Quest, which The Game consists of. Explore The Game aiming to see it as a generic 'profession changer.' Thinking about some historical analogy like the steam engine might be helpful, where a whole spectrum of inventions in a variety of application areas was made possible (land and sea transportation; pumping water out of mines; cotton mills and other industries). See that The Game provides a creative space for a similarly broad range of inventions. |