- and then you could build up an alphabet of depictions of sounds from these drawings
- and then you could lay these letters out in a row to represent the sequence that they are uttered in time, and bing bango you've invented writing
- and then you could lay these letters out in a row to represent the sequence that they are uttered in time, and bing bango you've invented writing
That's a lot of steps! And you kind of need to do them all at once or you don't get anything. No wonder writing was an invention that was just sitting on the ground for thousands of years with no one picking it up.
And even if you did figure all that out, you'd have to convince a critical mass of people to learn your alphabet to start getting any use out of it.
If you can't manage that then your invention is lost.
If you can't manage that then your invention is lost.
Another cool example:
Did you know that pie charts, line plots, area plots, and bar charts were all only invented in the 1780s by one guy: William Playfair.
These are conceptually all so simple! Ancient Egyptians could have invented them!
Did you know that pie charts, line plots, area plots, and bar charts were all only invented in the 1780s by one guy: William Playfair.
These are conceptually all so simple! Ancient Egyptians could have invented them!
That's what I meant before by "suddenly filling a gaping hole that no one noticed was there before."
After writing or bar charts have been invented they seem so obvious they become part of the background.
How many of these invisible holes are still floating around out there?
After writing or bar charts have been invented they seem so obvious they become part of the background.
How many of these invisible holes are still floating around out there?
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