Chapter  10

The "MIND" of Mankind is a restless diverse reality. Its imagination is continually challenging and probing every possible frontier in science, technology, philosophy, etc.. At the present time its creative imagineers are racking their brains trying to harness nuclear fusion, defeat the AIDS virus and cancer, smash deeper and deeper into the secrets of the atom, send sophisticated space probes further into space, genetically alter life forms, penetrate billions of light years into deep space with giant land based and orbiting telescopes. These are just a few of the more publicized challenges. (Researchers have just announced on television that a new medicine has been perfected that will alleviate the suffering for people who have Cystic Fibrosis.)

There are all types of other projects being worked on by countless creative imagineers all over the world, in their businesses, home basements, laboratories, offices, universities, etc.. It seems as though mankind's innovators are sprinkled throughout its history in time and place, each one building upon the innovations of their predecessors. They are all part of the all encompassing - "MIND" of Mankind.

The dictionary describes imagination as - 1 : the power to form a mental image - 2 : creative ability - 3 : the ability to confront and deal with a problem - 4 : a creation of the mind - 5 : a fanciful or empty assumption - 6 : a belief or conception.

What tremendous power!! The unique ability of mankind to form a mental image is the most awesome power ever bestowed on a life form. It is our Special Gift from our Creator. It is what makes man so unique and gives him tremendous power over his destiny. This power, over hundreds of centuries, has enabled mankind to create its myriad of diverse; concepts, traditions, and innovations including its tools and machines. Our Creator also gave; wings to birds so they could fly, claws and fangs to tigers, so that they could survive. These natural tools are “gifts” from our Creator, that came about via evolution. Each form of life is given these gifts so they may survive and prosper. The law of Evolution makes this all possible. None of these gifts remotely approaches the Special Gift that mankind has received.

Before the transformation, the Homo Sapiens' natural mental abilities were very limited. Although they were able to develop the first primitive tools, that was about as far as they could progress. These tools were various crude stone and bone tools and possibly the spear. They used these same primitive tools for thousands of centuries. It was only when mankind came into existence (the final connections of our cerebral cortex evolved) did the full creative imaginative power of mankind explode onto the scene. This was the time of the transformation when mankind received its "Special Gift" - Human Imagination. It happened slowly over hundreds of generations. The children of this lttle Homo Sapiens tribe began to become a little smarter then their parents. This never happened before. These children's decendants began to create and improve the tools and weapons of their tribes. Over a long period of time this tribe broke up into many tribes and spread out over Africa. They formed their own words and languages and technology. Their Special gift allowed these Homo Imaginative Sapien tribes to continue to progress rapidly.

After the transformation, starting with this most basic powerful natural tool, Human Imagination, mankind over a period of the next forty thousand years has been able to invent and develop all its other tools, machines and concepts. Man finally discovered how to make fire (he had used it for thousands of centuries but probably did not know how to create it). Soon after the transformation he began inventing extremely powerful mental tools such as words and languages, later he began painting and drawing and finally after thousands of years; writing and mathematics. These were the basic mental tools that helped man invent, develop and improve all his other tools, machines and concepts.

After the transformation he also began improving his primitive axes, knives and spears and soon (in evolutionary time) invented the bow and arrow, the plow, the wheel, etc.. Other examples of tools he invented are; papyrus and paper, ink, printing, books, eyeglasses, the microscope, the telescope, the radio, telephone (all communication innovations) and finally the mighty computer with all its software etc. These are a few of the vital tools that help man to create and prosper.

Tools and machines are products of mankind's imagination and responsible for most of its wealth. A machine is a mechanical device that helps man accomplish a task by performing work, it multiplies his strength and power greatly. A tool is an instrument or a mental aid that helps him perform a task (a means to an end). A tool could be words or language (the oldest and most basic tools of the communication industry), or an instrument such as; a stone age axe, a surgeon's scalpel or a complex computer guided robotic machine performing tasks to manufacture an automobile (a combination of tools and machines). Machines are the levers, pulleys and motors that power our tools, automobiles, airplanes, etc. They require some sort of energy to do their work. It could be muscle energy, electrical energy, fossil fuel energy, renewable energy or nuclear energy.

Today in this country we have billions of tools and machines doing every sort of task imaginable. They help us build our infrastructure (our roads, bridges, buildings, homes, etc.), manufacture, power and control vehicles that will carry us or anything else where ever we want to go, heat and cool our buildings and homes, grow our food, defend our country and carry out every other task imaginable. They consume tremendous amounts of energy, wear out and must constantly be replaced. The “Mind” is kept extremely busy just inventing, developing, building and guiding its tools and machines. If we are going to continue to be a wealthy, dynamic and powerful nation we must strive to be at the forefront of these vital activities. They are the foundation of our strength and wealth and are responsible for the high standard of living we have achieved. They are products of our visionaries and prime movers. Without these tools and machines, we would be back to where we started forty thousand years ago.

Business and government research and development laboratories, universities and think tanks, are composed of creative imagineers working together, imagining and experimenting, attempting to come up with new innovations in their respective areas. Advertising agencies have their creative imagineers trying to create stories that will help sell their clients’ products. Motion picture companies have their creative imagineers writing new screen plays, designing sets, directing and acting and creating new, state-of- the-art special effects. Publishers have their creative imagineers (their authors) writing new stories. The companies who have creative people as their top managers and directors will surely be more successful then rival companies whose top executives do not possess a strong creative imagination..

Entrepreneurs are the imaginative visionaries of business. They along with their investors and bankers create the new companies and industries. They invent, create and manufacture our tools, machines and services. They are the job makers and wealth builders of our country. They are the innovators who started businesses to promote their ideas, inventions, services, concepts, etc. E.I. DuPont de Nemours, Cyrus McCormick, John Deere, Thomas Edison, Andrew Carnegie, Alexander Bell, Charles Goodyear, George Eastman, George Pullman, Henry Ford, Orvil and Wilbur Wright, George Westinghouse, Samuel Morse, Donald Douglas, William Boeing, Herbert Dow, Sam Goldwyn, Igor Sikorsky, Chester Carlson, Walt Disney, Lawrence Bell, Stephen Bechtel, Ted Turner, Robert Rich, are a just a few of the visionary men whose innovative companies have contributed significantly to the greatness and wealth of our country and together provided millions of jobs for our citizens. If anyone deserves a “Hall of Fame” it is these determined, imaginative entrepreneurs. They helped raise us to our present high standard of living.

At the present time a whole new slew of imaginative entrepreneurs are coming on the scene in the electronic, communication and computer/software industry, creating thousands of new jobs and generating billions of dollars of new wealth for our country. With our ever increasing population and fast rising national debt we need a continuous stream of new dynamic wealth builders if we want to keep our “national economic head above water” and maintain our standard of living.

Imagination gave us the ability to “see” with our mind. It also made it possible for man to invent and develop those marvelous optical tools that enabled us to actually see things with our physical eyes that would not have been possible without these instruments. The telescope makes it possible to look far out into space and see other planets, moons, stars and galaxies. Things we could never see with our normal eyes. Galileo got into all sorts of trouble with the vested interests of the day by telling of things he saw through this remarkable instrument.

The microscope is another amazing optical tool that allowed us to see extremely small creatures. Things such bacteria, virus and other microorganisms that we did not know even existed before we looked through this instrument. All this was made possible because some ancient innovators observed that a ray of light bent slightly when it passed from one medium to another, such as air to glass or air to water. This simple quirk of nature was observed by some creative imagineers. They began to study this curious phenomena and to develop the science of optics. Ibn al Haytham, an Islamic scholar who lived in Egypt around a thousand AD was one of the most prominent of these men. Over the next six hundred years various visionaries studied the science of optics.

Glassmakers eventually developed a glass that was optically clear enough to see through without too much distortion. During these centuries the progress in optics and glass making made possible the development of eye glasses. (It was the “Mind” at work.) Newton contributed greatly to the science of optics. In the early seventeenth century Galileo acquired his telescope and aimed it at the heavens.

Many technological innovations are based on this characteristic of light. It has opened whole new areas for the human imagination to explore. The camera depends on optics and therefore so does the photographic industry. Photography also depends also on another little quirk of nature, the fact that some silver compounds are effected by light. Giant industries have grown out of these observations of nature. The design and manufacture of integrated circuits, fiberoptics and lasers are also, all made possible because light bends when it passes from one medium to another or bounces off a mirror at an angle. These industries employ thousands of people and have added immense wealth to our nation and to the world. Many other little laws (gifts) of nature have also spawned great technological innovations and resulted in the creation of giant new industries. They all began when they stirred the curiosity of an individual imaginative innovator but were developed by the “MIND”.

Some other observations that spawned giant new industries where: the deflection of a compass needle was observed when an electric current, generated by a volta pile, passed through a wire. This eventually led to the mechanical generation of electricity and the creation of the electric industry. When air flows over a curved wing surface it creates a stable lifting force. This led to the invention of the airplane and the aircraft industry. Water and ink do not mix. This led to the creation of the lithographic printing industry. The blackening of early light bulbs (the Edison effect). This effect coupled with variable electromagnetism led to the invention of the triode radio tube and the creation of the electronics industry. Hot expanding gases create a force capable of pushing a piston. This observation led to the invention of the steam engine and the internal combustion engine. This in turn led to the development of the railroads, steamships, the automobile industry and the aircraft industry.

An electrical spark set off in a coil of wire will induce a spark in a nearby coil of wire. This little quirk led to the wireless communications and radio/TV industries. A wire can become very hot and glow brightly when an electrical current passes through it. This led to the invention of the electric incandescent bulb, the toaster and electric heater, etc. Rockets, electrostatic copy machines, computers, lasers, the telegraph and radio signals all depend on little basic laws of nature that stirred the imagination of a creative innovator.

Although one or two individual visionaries may have recognized these “gifts of nature” and told the world about them, the applications of these discoveries were all invented, improved, developed and refined by the Mind of Mankind, (thousands of men and women from around the world who contributed their energy and creative imagination to further expand on these innovations). They have all resulted in the development of giant industries and major positive changes in mankind's standard of living. They are all products of the “Mind”.

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