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Delayed Inventions by Bad Assumptions
- Many ancient inventions could have happened much earlier but were delayed by incorrect assumptions.
- Examples include the compass, stethoscope, and buttons, each taking centuries or millennia to invent despite existing materials.
Language as Revolutionary Technology
- Language and writing are technologies that transformed humanity and could be lost like any tool.
- Teaching early humans to talk and write could give civilization a 196,000-year head start.
Avoid Tobacco as Deadly Technology
- Avoid inventing technologies with harmful long-term impacts, like tobacco smoking.
- Stopping tobacco early could save more lives than weapons or wars in the 20th century.