Synthesis 2

1. “Western scholars talk about technology in the Roman Empire,” Mavhunga says. “What if we were to do this for Africa? If we say that technology is something that comes prior to the colonial period, what does it do to the way we think about history?” - Beatty, Pineda, Saiz

2. Scholars’ relative disinterest in the history of technology in Latin America stems in part from the view that Latin America’s contribution to patterns of technological change has been largely marginal, derivative, or mimetic.- Peter Dizikes

3. To sociologists, gone was the lonely inventor as a hero or genius. It was a myth created by past authors. Innovation is rather a social process. To economists, gone was invention without market value. It is a subject for the historian. To the policy-maker, gone was (or should be) research with no application. The golden age between the state and the funding of the basic scientist, although short-lived, is finished. Innovation as a category in the twentieth century expresses precisely these political changes: a demarcation with past understandings, values and practices. The category’s previous meanings or predecessors (invention, ingenuity, imagination, etc.) came to be subsumed under “innovation”, and the creative abilities of an individual 41 For a similar shift in context and its impact on statistics on science, see Godin (2007a). 43 placed in the service of organizations, industrial development and economic growth.- Innovation, Godin. 

In providing these three quotes, it is my hope to illustrate that they reveal a concept that has affected how we operate on a daily basis living in our respective social enclaves. As a consumer society that has developed the largest economy in the record of human history, there has been an almost conscious effort to dismiss and even eradicate the use of previous technologies and contributions derived from outside or obsolete cultures. In exploring this vein of thought more thoroughly, there has been a concerted effort by those who stand to gain the most from this 'progress' to convince the masses that this must happen in order to attain a level of virtue by participating in these new conquests.

Where this can be clearly seen as a continuance of colonial prerogative is in the first two quotes that I have chosen. It is very clear that the definition of technological advancement is ascribed exclusively to western thinking and ownership, rather than to any contributions made by cultures and societies that did not seek expansion on the same scale. In practice, what could be considered contributions have been routinely denigrated and even effaced from the historical record in many cases. 

As Godwin illustrates, 'innovation' underwent many transformations before the definition settled more due to the interests of commercial influence. Even in the realm or creatives where invention and innovation should have a firm foothold, there is a gatekeeper where financial interests are paid heed. Unless there is an application for these innovations that equals profitability, it is highly unlikely that even the most useful or groundbreaking inventions or discoveries will find any support.

This is the intentional proliferation of mass campaigns undertaken that create a narrative where the consumers are playing a large part in driving this innovation. This has been utilized countless times to curry favor with the public by invocation of national or cultural identity, even superiority, and can be seen historically in movements such as Manifest Destiny and more recently in American Exceptionalism. The intent of those interests driving these innovations is expressly to gain public support by convincing people that this progress is the new frontier, and it is their duty to be a part of that progress. There is no real emphasis on looking any direction except forward, and rarely if ever to the quaint or obsolete ideas from the past.