23:12
Faizan
"Before you take any decision, consider its effect on the next seven generations"
... Native American Hopi Proverb
We've devolved into a society of short-term thinking. In business it is all about month-end results, next quarter and annual reporting. Governments (aka politicians) often consider only what will get them elected in the next go-round. As individuals most of us are just managing to keep up and are having a hard time thinking a few years into the future, let alone the impact our decisions will have seven generations (140 years) hence.
Yet, everything we do in our day-to-day lives, whether alone, as part of a corporation, or as part of a country, leaves a lasting imprint on tomorrow and many tomorrows to come.
Let's go back and reflect on the inventions of the past and consider if consideration had been seven generations ahead, what might have been done differently?
• 1878 David Edward Hughes invents the carbon microphone
• 1879 Thomas Edison invents the first commercially practical incandescent light
• 1885 the first skyscraper opens in the Chicago -- ten stories high
• 1884 Hiram Maxim demonstrates the first prototype of the machine gun
• 1885 Karl Benz develops the first automobile to run on an internal combustion engine
• 1895 Wilhelm Röntgen discovers X-rays
• 1962 Sten Gustaf Thulin invents the plastic bag
Each of these inventions has had significant impacts on our lives today, from the illumination of electric light, to the massive skyscrapers that dot every city's skyline, to the deaths (and victories) resulting from the invention of the machine gun, to the environmental havoc created by plastic bags. And let's not forget, there would be no karaoke without the invention of the microphone!
I'm not saying the world would be a better place without these inventions, but had there been thought given, at the time, as to what the impact would be on us today, perhaps there would have been more thought given to the use and commercialization of each of these creations.
Perhaps there would have been a limitation put on by towns and cities as to the height of skyscrapers, that now choke out the sunlight in cities, cause many birds to die, and cause major congestion, which of course has a massive environmental ripple effect.
Perhaps the need for a machine gun that would only be used for mass slaughter of humans would have been re-thought. Because of this invention, many other faster, better weapons were invented, as the push was on to kill more, faster.
... Native American Hopi Proverb
We've devolved into a society of short-term thinking. In business it is all about month-end results, next quarter and annual reporting. Governments (aka politicians) often consider only what will get them elected in the next go-round. As individuals most of us are just managing to keep up and are having a hard time thinking a few years into the future, let alone the impact our decisions will have seven generations (140 years) hence.
Yet, everything we do in our day-to-day lives, whether alone, as part of a corporation, or as part of a country, leaves a lasting imprint on tomorrow and many tomorrows to come.
Let's go back and reflect on the inventions of the past and consider if consideration had been seven generations ahead, what might have been done differently?
• 1878 David Edward Hughes invents the carbon microphone
• 1879 Thomas Edison invents the first commercially practical incandescent light
• 1885 the first skyscraper opens in the Chicago -- ten stories high
• 1884 Hiram Maxim demonstrates the first prototype of the machine gun
• 1885 Karl Benz develops the first automobile to run on an internal combustion engine
• 1895 Wilhelm Röntgen discovers X-rays
• 1962 Sten Gustaf Thulin invents the plastic bag
Each of these inventions has had significant impacts on our lives today, from the illumination of electric light, to the massive skyscrapers that dot every city's skyline, to the deaths (and victories) resulting from the invention of the machine gun, to the environmental havoc created by plastic bags. And let's not forget, there would be no karaoke without the invention of the microphone!
I'm not saying the world would be a better place without these inventions, but had there been thought given, at the time, as to what the impact would be on us today, perhaps there would have been more thought given to the use and commercialization of each of these creations.
Perhaps there would have been a limitation put on by towns and cities as to the height of skyscrapers, that now choke out the sunlight in cities, cause many birds to die, and cause major congestion, which of course has a massive environmental ripple effect.
Perhaps the need for a machine gun that would only be used for mass slaughter of humans would have been re-thought. Because of this invention, many other faster, better weapons were invented, as the push was on to kill more, faster.
Posted in: business
