Interdependence: The Only Way Forward

Albert Einstein, arguably one of the most intelligent and creative thinkers of the last 200 years was born March 14, 1879. His theories of special and general relativity dramatically changed our view of the universe.

Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856 (interestingly, during a terrible lightning storm). Tesla invented the first alternating current (AC) motor and developed AC generation and transmission technology along with hundreds of other inventions (most of which he never benefitted from financially).

Just a few years before Tesla, Thomas Edison was born on February 11, 1847. Edison has been described as “America’s greatest inventor” with more than 1,000 patents in his name in the United States and scores more in other countries.

These remarkably brilliant men developed theories and invented many things upon which all modern technology relies. While each was supported by teams of people in their work, their far-above-average intelligence and creativity led them to breakthroughs either unthought of or thought impossible at the time.

In a way, they were islands unto themselves; the scientific rock stars of their age who are still idolized today. In many cases, we take for granted the discoveries they made. These are things that are so much a part of our daily lives that we often don’t stop to consider the amount of time, effort, and genius that went into inventing them.

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, additional prodigies have emerged: Ada Lovelace, Katherine Johnson, Federico Faggin, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Bill Joy, and Mark Zuckerberg to name just a very small number. During the invention stage, some of them operated independently or in very small groups. Some of these are household names; others relatively unknown. Each shaped the world as we know it in significant ways. For some of them, their initial brilliant inventions led to the creation of the world’s largest companies in the 21st century.

TheEmergingFuture.com¹ estimates that by the year 2027 technology will have improved one million times since the year 2000.

What does that mean?

Even in 2020, in layman’s terms that explosive growth in technology means the era of the rock star is over. Each of the individuals I listed above (along with hundreds of additional individuals) created something alone or in a very small group; something that has revolutionized the world.

Teams of ever-increasing size and complexity will be required to continue advancing technology. While there will certainly be individuals who will be credited with future technological advancements, dozens or even hundreds of people will be required to actually move the needle.

The era of the rock star is over.

We’ve got a problem, however.

For some reason, humans want to own things, even so-called “intellectual property”. If you can conceive of something and create a working prototype. . .eventually. . .then you can secure a patent (if you’re willing to spend the money) to ensure no one else can copy your idea. In 2018, Apple filed patents in 1,310 patent families. Microsoft holds over 90,000 total patents. In 2019, Facebook was awarded 1,317 patents.

The megacompanies of our day want to own everything — even the data about our lives which we knowingly and unknowingly give them every minute of every day (another topic for another day). They are in competition to own us as consumers.

Economists would likely argue that the fierce competition between these companies is what fuels economic growth. I don’t necessarily want to argue that point.

Dr. Jonas Salk invented a polio vaccine that was first used in 1955. Forbes estimates that Dr. Salk’s personal net worth would have increased by around $7 billion in his lifetime if he had patented the polio vaccine. (We’ll leave the reason he didn’t patent it for another day as well.)

As is the case with most patented medications, the companies who sell them make massive profit margins (to recover their R&D expenses, of course). Under patent, the polio vaccine would likely have cost hundreds of dollars per dose to the patient. That would have led to the vaccine only being available to a small fraction of the population and would likely mean polio would still be a huge problem today in a much larger segment of the world’s population.

However, because the polio vaccine was not patented, UNICEF estimates the cost of a 10-dose vial of polio vaccine at roughly $1 (USD). So, for a mere $0.10, children can be vaccinated against polio in countries where polio continues to be a problem. In the United States, nothing costs just $0.10 anymore. That makes the patent-free polio vaccine something remarkable.

The Conseil Européen por la Recherche Nucléaire (CERN or European Organization for Nuclear Research) which operates the large hadron collider (and a few smaller colliders in Germany and Switzerland) involves a collaborative community of more than 17,500 scientists and researchers. Many of them operate because of contributions made by member countries and many of them never achieve any kind of notoriety for their discoveries, yet they continuously push the boundaries of human knowledge.

Let’s do a little thought experiment: what if all the large technology companies of our day collaborated instead of competed? What if they used interdependence to accelerate the growth of all areas of knowledge, including technology? As a corporation, why limit yourself to the cumulative intellectual capacity of the people who work for you where instead you could have access to the brightest minds across potentially millions of people?

The ramifications are endless, but I’ll list a few.

• The cost to own technology will decrease dramatically.

• The availability of technology to impoverished and low-income areas of the globe will increase exponentially.

• Broader access to technology will mean improved educational opportunities in every walk of life.

• This will lead to improved healthcare in those same areas.

• New businesses dedicated to recycling old electronics will pop up across the globe thus providing high tech jobs to areas that currently have little or no access to technology.

Three things will be required for this to happen:

1. A desire to freely share will have to be espoused by all.

2. People will have to learn to trust each other.

3. People will have to learn to work effectively with each other. It’s an enormously complex task to coordinate the efforts of millions of people, but new opportunities for people exist here as well.

But, since we all want to continue owning stuff and since world economies are inextricably tied to the portfolio health of megacorporations, this is not likely to change in the near future. But, oh, what a beautiful world we will live in when it does.

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