Will we Supplant the Steam Engine?

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To transform is to make a thorough or dramatic change in form, appearance, or character. Society has transformed several times, but what was the most transformative period in all of history? The folks at MIT set out to answer that question. Through their research and analysis, they determined that the invention of the steam engine ushered in the most transformative period in history.

Over two centuries later, we are likely on the verge of supplanting that transformative period. Unlike the industrial revolutions, when a period of stabilization allowed companies to retrench and exploit the disruptors of the day, this coming period promises no such period. Several key drivers have positioned the next several decades to deliver a staggering – perhaps unprecedented – amount of change. That leads to a question regarding the intensity of the coming transformative period.

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10 responses to “Will we Supplant the Steam Engine?”

January 26, 2015

Babar Khan Javed

The internet era of seamless communication and the sharing economy generation have played a tremendous role in breaking feudal barriers to wealth and in expounding the power of communities.

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January 29, 2015

Stéphane Odent

The steam engine enabled the industrial revolution and radically transformed society. Before, population was mainly rural and people were working 7 days – 90 hrs/week. With the industrial revolution, population became more urban and machines made work more efficient which lead to a reduction of labour time to ca. 40hrs/week. Today I think we are truly starting the information age revolution because of the law of Moore being still at work. Through increasing miniaturization, computer power, networks, artificial intelligence, robotics, new machines will make a lot of current jobs obsolete and people will become again more mobile and work radically less.

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February 12, 2015

What does the future hold for businesses? | netgueko

[…] let me know if you think we are entering the most transformative period in history by responding on my poll and share your comments on what Thornton and Gerd had to […]

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May 4, 2015

Giovanni Albers

We are still living and developing things based on current technologies. Everything we do is based on everything we gained from advances made possible by the global availability of the steam engine. The otto motor, the wankel motor and the electromotor are based on knowledge gained from the mechanics of the steam engine.
Real life changers will only come through if we find new ways of producing power, like fusion reaction and other ways some people are already dreaming about. This will only be possible after we learned what we really need to do:, really sharing wealth, and food, and leaving behind the still practiced colonial thinking. By focussing our human potential on finally ending all wars, all hostilities both foreign and domestic, by acknowledging that as individuals we are so different, but as humans so alike. By accepting this and making sure we all live by the simple, yet important rules of helping eachother and granting one another the possibility to improve each individuals longing for a better and improved living standard. By being positive and trusting eachother, and by making sure nothing will infringe this. Only then will we be able to see a new social and technological revolution.

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May 5, 2015

davidkish11

If you believe that society is on an exponential growth path, then the current time is continuously the most transformative.

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1. May 5, 2015
  
  Frank Diana
  
  Maybe so, but there have been periods in history that have brought significant paradigm shifts – those are not continuous. The level of change is dramatic and significant. We are on the verge of one of those shifts. The point being that leaders need to understand the magnitude of the coming shift. Viewing it as continuous would tell these leaders that it’s business as usual – it is not.
  
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  1. May 5, 2015
    
    davidkish11
    
    I didn’t mean to imply we are in a time of business as usual. Rather that the momentous shift we are experiencing will continue indefinitely.
    
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October 31, 2018

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[…] knowledge-fueled innovation that followed. An MIT study found the steam engine to be the most Impactful Innovation in human history. When it combined with the printing press, the world experienced its most prolific […]

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February 15, 2022

The Journey: An Historical Perspective | Reimagining the Future

[…] the century, the steam engine was invented, delivering what an MIT study found to be the most Impactful Innovation in human history. A steam-powered printing press soon revolutionized the print industry and […]

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February 16, 2022

The Journey: A Growth Of Knowledge | Reimagining the Future

[…] knowledge-fueled innovation that followed. An MIT study found the steam engine to be the most Impactful Innovation in human […]

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