Note by Bob Hyman on Substack: "Hopefully, we’ll always have “creative” authors and engineers, who can conceive of new ideas and can take steps to realize them. Such people have overlapping ranges in multiple talents: creativity, ability to communicate and personal mastery of the tools of the trade. I thin…"

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Hopefully, we’ll always have “creative” authors and engineers, who can conceive of new ideas and can take steps to realize them.

Such people have overlapping ranges in multiple talents: creativity, ability to communicate and personal mastery of the tools of the trade. I think there’s a 3-d plot you could render, slotting in the above authors (I’d add Larry Niven, predicted the practical Dyson sphere, also not yet invented) and engineers (from antiquity: interestingengineering.com/innovation/1…, tech entrepreneurs Edison, Musk, …)

Dimensions on the plot:

Creativity of the concept: from 0 — totally derivative extension of existing ideas to 100 — fundamentally innovative concept.
Communication ability: from 0 — the bare invention by a solo inventor; 50 — the invention plus a manifesto about it, so we can appreciate the potential utility; 100 — invention is a team effort, creator recruits, motivates and coordinates a large team of contributors;
Personal mastery of the tools of the trade: from 0 — none (and how can such a creator succeed?) to 100 — master of existing techniques and creator of new ones. (This dimension could/should arguably be split into sub-dimensions, one for each relevant skill…)

interestingengineering.com

13 Engineers From Antiquity And Their Marvels - Interesting Engineering

These are some of the great engineers from antiquity whose names have, thankfully, survived the ravages of time.

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