Abstract
What is necessary for a culture to produce new machines and technology? A recent book claimed one should study the thinking of Leonardo da Vinci to find the seven principles of genius and creativity. The premise of this and similar self-help books is that the secret of creativity is in the individual. Yet historical evidence convincingly shows that a set of societal conditions must be met to create and produce a new technology and that such conditions existed in Leonardo’s time. Some of these conditions include the following:
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(i)
The society must have a tradition of building machines;
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(ii)
there must exist a cadre of artisans and craftspeople with technical skills;
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(iii)
there must exist a supply of capital to invest in new technology;
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(iv)
there must exist in the society a spirit of progress, that humankind is meant to improve and change its environment;
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(v)
finally there must exist individuals with a vision and motivation to change the status quo.
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© 2007 Springer
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Moon, F.C. (2007). Evolution of Design of Machines. In: The Machines of Leonardo da Vinci and Franz Reuleaux. History of Mechanism and Machine Science, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5599-7_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5599-7_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-5598-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-5599-7
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