Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Person of the Millenium?

Author:Bruce Hollebone
Posted:12/1/1998; 9:37:41 AM
Topic:Person of the Millenium?
Msg #:655 (In response to 584)
Prev/Next:654 / 656

I nominate Johannes Gutenberg (1400-1468) or, if you prefer, cheap books.

Guttenberg and his imitators spread the idea that ideas and knowledge were something everyone could afford. This broke the secretive and closed guild and church systems and lead to great innovations in European thought. Universities started and industry caught fire all because ideas could be shared. Once in the open, knowledge can be elaborated on and applied in ways its originator had never thought of. The whole process feeds on itself; closed information systems improve linearly, open ones grow much faster.

Without cheap books there could have been no Renaissance, no Reformation, no Enlightnement. The Twentieth Century would be much like the Sixteenth. Think of what China was like before being "opened" by the Europeans. Chinese culture had not changed for almost a thousand years (arguably two) even through mass migrations and major wars. For example, Eighteenth century Chinese art used the same techniques, subjects and even colours as their Fifteenth century counterparts. The contrast with the evolution of western art is striking.

Free and shared ideas led directly to most of the greatest contributions of European culture: freedom of speech, the academic tradition, and the scientific method.

Now, Gutenberg did not set out to change the world, he just wanted to make a living printing bibles. What happend was an accident of history, but a profound one. To this day, the process he started continues to drive the engines of our progress.

As a side note: it is very tempting to compare the invention of the printing press to the that of the web server, but I won't.

Kind Regards, Bruce.

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