Long Now: Conversations at The Interval

How to Invent Everything: Ryan North

Mar 1, 2023

00:00

Creator website

Highlights

AI Chapters

Episode notes

What's the Most Important Invention to Bring Back in Time?

02:15

Da Vinci, 1495 CE. I Can Draw in Perspective

04:22

What Does Language Do for You?

02:21

Introduction

2min

How to Invent Everything by Ryan North

5min

How to Rebuild Civilization With a Time Machine

4min

The History of Compasses and Stethoscopes

3min

The Bad Hypothesis, Fashion Is Never Practical

5min

Da Vinci, 1495 CE. I Can Draw in Perspective

4min

The Evolution of the Tuning Fork

5min

The Haas Avocado

2min

What's the Most Important Invention to Bring Back in Time?

2min

10.

What Does Language Do for You?

2min

11.

What Is the Hardest Part of Writing?

6min

12.

What's Your Definition of Technology?

3min

13.

The Antigotera Clock

2min

14.

What's on the Rosetta Stone?

3min

15.

Are There Any Technological Dead Ends That We Shouldn't Restart?

4min

16.

How to Invent Everything and Take Over the World

5min

17.

The Major Areas of Human Knowledge

1min

18.

The Fundamentals of Agriculture

6min

How would someone fare if they were dropped into a randomly chosen period in history? Would they have any relevant knowledge to share, or ability to invent crucial technologies given the period's constraints? Ryan North uses these hypothetical questions to explore the technological and implicit knowledge underpinning modern civilization, offering a practical guide of how one could rebuild civilization from the ground up.