October 6, 2010
The Most Powerful Idea inthe World:
A Story of Steam Industry, and Invention
William Rosen
Former editor (Macmillan Simon and Schuster) and writer
The Most Powerful Idea inthe World:
A Story of Steam Industry, and Invention
William Rosen
Former editor (Macmillan Simon and Schuster) and writer
Minutes of the Fourth Meeting of the 69th Year
Convocation Room at the Friend Center
Presiding officer: President Bob Varrin
Invocation led by: Dick Armstrong
Guests: Rob Kuser, introduced by Joe Bolster
New Members: Dorothy Windhorst, Roome Parmele and Larry Parsons
Estimated Attendance: 102
President Varrin called the meeting to order at 10:15 a.m.
Minutes for the meeting of September 29th were delivered by Jim Deneen.
Our speaker, William Rosen, was introduced by Claire Jacobus. Mr. Rosen is a writer and former editor at the publishing houses of MacMillan and Simon & Schuster. He is the author of the award-winning 2008 book “Justinian’s Flea,” which relates the role of the bubonic plague in bringing about the transition from antiquity to the medieval world. Mr. Rosen’s talk was excerpted from his new book, “The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry and Invention,” which was published this summer by Random House. Like “Justinian’s Flea,” “The Most Powerful Idea in the World” relates the story of a period of great social change – the one brought about by the rise of steam power and the Industrial Revolution.
Mr. Rosen began his talk by noting the coincidence in date between the Battle of Waterloo, at which Napoleon’s Imperial Guard famously (and perhaps apocryphally) taunted the British troops with the jeer: “the Old Guard dies, but doesn’t surrender,” and the issuance to the Cornish inventor Richard Trevithick of a patent on the world’s first high-pressure steam engine. He then proceeded to argue, rather convincingly, that the latter event was the more significant in human history.
The speaker used dramatic charts to illustrate the rapid rise of human productivity and welfare brought about by the Industrial Revolution after nearly 98 centuries at a more-or-less constant level. He noted particularly that per-capita GDP did not change much from the time of Homer to the time of Shakespeare, and only began to escape the so-called Malthusian trap with the harnessing of steam power.
Considering the long “family tree” of technological innovations that went into this development, he noted particularly that the perfection of the steam engine introduced a culture among inventors of perpetual innovation, which was itself a very important innovation. He also argued that this culture was brought about in part by the ability to measure incremental improvements in performance that the steam engine, as a converter of fuel into power, allowed.
Mr. Rosen further described the individuals who brought about the transformation to steam power - James Watt, Richard Trevithick, Thomas Newcomen and others - noting that all were British and all came from families of artisans. He advanced the argument that this common background was not accidental: in addition to the advantages that Great Britain possessed over its European contemporaries in terms of natural resources, population and political structure, its recently established patent system broadened the segments of society who could lead lives as inventors.
Mr. Rosen ended his talk by noting that the Industrial Revolution is still with us, as steam power still generates most of the electricity that we use today. But, more importantly, the era of perpetual technological innovation that was ushered in by the development of steam power is so much a part of contemporary life that it is difficult to imagine the world without it. That, he concluded, might be the most powerful idea in the world.
After a lively exchange of questions and answers, the meeting ended at 11:30 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
H. Vincent Poor
Presiding officer: President Bob Varrin
Invocation led by: Dick Armstrong
Guests: Rob Kuser, introduced by Joe Bolster
New Members: Dorothy Windhorst, Roome Parmele and Larry Parsons
Estimated Attendance: 102
President Varrin called the meeting to order at 10:15 a.m.
Minutes for the meeting of September 29th were delivered by Jim Deneen.
Our speaker, William Rosen, was introduced by Claire Jacobus. Mr. Rosen is a writer and former editor at the publishing houses of MacMillan and Simon & Schuster. He is the author of the award-winning 2008 book “Justinian’s Flea,” which relates the role of the bubonic plague in bringing about the transition from antiquity to the medieval world. Mr. Rosen’s talk was excerpted from his new book, “The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry and Invention,” which was published this summer by Random House. Like “Justinian’s Flea,” “The Most Powerful Idea in the World” relates the story of a period of great social change – the one brought about by the rise of steam power and the Industrial Revolution.
Mr. Rosen began his talk by noting the coincidence in date between the Battle of Waterloo, at which Napoleon’s Imperial Guard famously (and perhaps apocryphally) taunted the British troops with the jeer: “the Old Guard dies, but doesn’t surrender,” and the issuance to the Cornish inventor Richard Trevithick of a patent on the world’s first high-pressure steam engine. He then proceeded to argue, rather convincingly, that the latter event was the more significant in human history.
The speaker used dramatic charts to illustrate the rapid rise of human productivity and welfare brought about by the Industrial Revolution after nearly 98 centuries at a more-or-less constant level. He noted particularly that per-capita GDP did not change much from the time of Homer to the time of Shakespeare, and only began to escape the so-called Malthusian trap with the harnessing of steam power.
Considering the long “family tree” of technological innovations that went into this development, he noted particularly that the perfection of the steam engine introduced a culture among inventors of perpetual innovation, which was itself a very important innovation. He also argued that this culture was brought about in part by the ability to measure incremental improvements in performance that the steam engine, as a converter of fuel into power, allowed.
Mr. Rosen further described the individuals who brought about the transformation to steam power - James Watt, Richard Trevithick, Thomas Newcomen and others - noting that all were British and all came from families of artisans. He advanced the argument that this common background was not accidental: in addition to the advantages that Great Britain possessed over its European contemporaries in terms of natural resources, population and political structure, its recently established patent system broadened the segments of society who could lead lives as inventors.
Mr. Rosen ended his talk by noting that the Industrial Revolution is still with us, as steam power still generates most of the electricity that we use today. But, more importantly, the era of perpetual technological innovation that was ushered in by the development of steam power is so much a part of contemporary life that it is difficult to imagine the world without it. That, he concluded, might be the most powerful idea in the world.
After a lively exchange of questions and answers, the meeting ended at 11:30 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
H. Vincent Poor