1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,480 Speaker 1: Guess what, Mango? What's that? Will? All Right? So, I 2 00:00:02,480 --> 00:00:04,920 Speaker 1: know we're doing this episode on inventions, and I wanted 3 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: to give you an update. I'm not giving up on 4 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:09,440 Speaker 1: my invention, and tell me about that again. You know 5 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 1: the pudding truck. We talked about this putting ruck. So 6 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: this is the one where you take one of those 7 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:17,120 Speaker 1: cement trucks with this huge spinny things on the back 8 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:19,480 Speaker 1: and fill it with pudding, right, yeah, exactly. I mean 9 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:22,200 Speaker 1: I've had this vision for years and one day, I mean, 10 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:25,279 Speaker 1: this is probably when I retire, but I'm determined to 11 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:27,360 Speaker 1: do this. I don't know how much it costs to 12 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:29,440 Speaker 1: buy one of these trucks new, but we'll figure that 13 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:31,760 Speaker 1: out in the future. But I'm determined to make this 14 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:34,159 Speaker 1: thing work. And you know, I'm planning to compete with 15 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:36,240 Speaker 1: the ice cream truck. I mean, go head to head 16 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:38,919 Speaker 1: with the ice cream truck. I want to drive around neighborhoods, 17 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:41,920 Speaker 1: but you know, instead, the pudding will come pouring down 18 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:44,919 Speaker 1: that cement shoot. Kids will just hold their hands out 19 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:46,960 Speaker 1: and the pudding will just like rush into them, and 20 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:49,360 Speaker 1: the people are gonna love it. I've just I've got 21 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:51,600 Speaker 1: to figure out how to pass the health code stuff first, 22 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:55,240 Speaker 1: but but again I'll figure that out later. Yeah, those 23 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:58,280 Speaker 1: minor details. So I know it's brilliant, but it seems 24 00:00:58,280 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 1: like a bit of a stretch to call it an invention, 25 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:02,200 Speaker 1: and especially when I think about all the cool stuff 26 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:04,640 Speaker 1: we read about this week. I mean, I I certainly 27 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:06,520 Speaker 1: don't want to crush your dreams. You should, you should 28 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:09,119 Speaker 1: definitely pursue this, but we should probably also talk about 29 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:11,880 Speaker 1: some of the most important inventions that shaped the modern economy. 30 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:13,960 Speaker 1: What do you say? All right, well, one day I 31 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:34,039 Speaker 1: think you'll understand more mango, But all right, let's get started. Hey, 32 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:36,760 Speaker 1: their podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will 33 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good friend 34 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:41,520 Speaker 1: men Guestow, Ticketter and the man on the other side 35 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:44,160 Speaker 1: of the soundproof class who's giving us not one but 36 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:48,040 Speaker 1: two thumbs up. Thanks Tristan as our producer, Tristan McNeil. 37 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:51,120 Speaker 1: And today we're looking at some of the revolutionary ideas 38 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:54,360 Speaker 1: and breakthrough innovations that have helped make our economy what 39 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:56,680 Speaker 1: it is today. I mean, it's kind of crazy when 40 00:01:56,720 --> 00:01:59,200 Speaker 1: you stop and think about how quickly humanity has gone 41 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:04,240 Speaker 1: from scattered, nomadic tribe to this current information based age, 42 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: and of course a few things have happened in between. 43 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:09,880 Speaker 1: But it's pretty amazing to think about all this progress. 44 00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:12,240 Speaker 1: Even the concept of money is, you know, what it 45 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:15,000 Speaker 1: looks like, what it can buy for us, All that 46 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:17,760 Speaker 1: has changed along the way too. And all this rapid 47 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:20,680 Speaker 1: evolution is due in no small part to some very 48 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:25,320 Speaker 1: unexpected consequences, you know, the surprising, often life changing impacts 49 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,880 Speaker 1: of a few key people and ideas and inventions. And 50 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: so that's what we're planning to cover today. Yeah, and 51 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:33,680 Speaker 1: we should definitely say upfront that today's episode is a 52 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:36,960 Speaker 1: little different than most. The theme and content is directly 53 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 1: inspired by a new book out this month called Fifty 54 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:42,079 Speaker 1: Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy, and our guest is 55 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:44,600 Speaker 1: actually the best selling author of that book, Tim Harford. 56 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:48,680 Speaker 1: So Tim is a rare cripple threat. He's an author, broadcaster, 57 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:53,080 Speaker 1: and an economists so we're super excited to talk to 58 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:55,400 Speaker 1: him and see what juicy details he has about about 59 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:57,960 Speaker 1: the world economy. Yeah, and it probably sounds a little 60 00:02:57,960 --> 00:02:59,920 Speaker 1: strange to some of our listeners to hear us talking 61 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:02,800 Speaker 1: about the juicy details. I mean, it sounds a little 62 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 1: strange to me, to be honest. Yeah, so you mean 63 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:08,359 Speaker 1: the fact that economics can be interesting pretty much? Yeah. 64 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:10,720 Speaker 1: I mean a lot of people assume economics is this 65 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:15,680 Speaker 1: extremely complex and therefore unapproachable science, and you know, people 66 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:18,200 Speaker 1: feel like it's too abstract of a concept to truly 67 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 1: wrap your head around and make it real to us, 68 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:23,640 Speaker 1: you know, for us to really understand it. And it 69 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:26,399 Speaker 1: has this reputation of being kind of boring or tedious, 70 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 1: and some people even call it the dismal science for 71 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:31,560 Speaker 1: this reason. Yeah, which is true. A lot of people 72 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:33,720 Speaker 1: call it that because economics can lead to some pretty 73 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:37,000 Speaker 1: upsetting outcomes, like the idea that robot labor will one 74 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:40,080 Speaker 1: day supplant the need for human workers. But I actually 75 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:42,880 Speaker 1: read about how that nickname originated, and the funny thing 76 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:45,560 Speaker 1: is it really points to the merits of economics rather 77 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:47,720 Speaker 1: than his drawbacks. Oh really, I haven't. I haven't read this. 78 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:50,160 Speaker 1: What did you read? Yes? So, according to this article 79 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:53,760 Speaker 1: in The Atlantic, Thomas Carlyle, a Scottish writer and philosopher, 80 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 1: called economics the dismal science when he was writing in 81 00:03:56,680 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 1: defense of the slave trade in the West Indies, and 82 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:02,080 Speaker 1: he was actual arguing that white plantation owners should be 83 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: able to force black plantation workers to be their slaves. 84 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:08,880 Speaker 1: But to Carlins chagrin, he wasn't able to justify this 85 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:12,400 Speaker 1: by looking at the economics. Apparently, like supply and demand 86 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:15,040 Speaker 1: are more in favor of leaving people alone rather than 87 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:17,400 Speaker 1: forcing them in to do labor. Wow, I don't think 88 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:20,360 Speaker 1: i'd heard that. So, so Carlisle called economics a dismal 89 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 1: science because it wouldn't back up slavery. Is that what 90 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 1: you're saying, Yeah, And then he railed against political economy, 91 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:29,719 Speaker 1: calling it a jury, desolate and indeed quite adject and 92 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:34,200 Speaker 1: distressing science, what we might call the dismal science. Yeah. 93 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:36,279 Speaker 1: So if you really trace the term back to its root, 94 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:40,040 Speaker 1: it's a nickname that connects economics with morality, and it's 95 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:44,120 Speaker 1: also this argument against racism and slavery. Like Carlo considered 96 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:47,040 Speaker 1: that to be a failing of economic thought. But obviously 97 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:50,040 Speaker 1: for any decent person that's a really good thing. That's 98 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:52,120 Speaker 1: pretty cool that that's where that came from. So the 99 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: dismal science is actually a tool for making the world 100 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:58,800 Speaker 1: less dismal. Exactly. So, well, why don't we go ahead 101 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 1: and talk about one of the big inventions and and 102 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:03,960 Speaker 1: one that also made life less dismal, especially during the 103 00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 1: hot summers. We're talking about air conditioning, yeah, I mean, 104 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:08,720 Speaker 1: you know, you know, we all know air conditioning was 105 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:10,840 Speaker 1: a big deal, but sometimes you do have to stop 106 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:14,039 Speaker 1: and really consider the impact of an invention like this. Yeah, 107 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:16,480 Speaker 1: so I'd say air conditioning is one of those inventions 108 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:18,719 Speaker 1: whose impact is always staring you right in the face, 109 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 1: yet you never really quite make the connection. And and 110 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:24,520 Speaker 1: I remember hearing how much like how much less legislation 111 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 1: was passed by the founding fathers and and future congresses 112 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:30,600 Speaker 1: because of the summer heat. But uh, you know, just 113 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:34,280 Speaker 1: think about skyscrapers, like they're these beautiful bastions of finance 114 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:37,640 Speaker 1: and commerce. But without air conditioning, we'd never be able 115 00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:40,560 Speaker 1: to occupy those buildings, and people on the higher floors 116 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:42,680 Speaker 1: they'd be baked live. You know, it's weird. I had 117 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:44,559 Speaker 1: never really thought about that, But that's a good point. 118 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:47,960 Speaker 1: And air conditioning is definitely good for all kinds of business. 119 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:49,839 Speaker 1: I mean, actually, one when you were saying skyscrapers, I 120 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 1: was thinking about shopping malls. I mean, there's no way 121 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:54,279 Speaker 1: those would exist. No one would want to walk around 122 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 1: in them because it would just be too hot in there, 123 00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:59,479 Speaker 1: but they were a huge part of the American economy 124 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 1: for deck aids. Yeah, and even if you look at 125 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:05,080 Speaker 1: online shopping, like remember computers stopped working all together if 126 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:07,680 Speaker 1: they get too hot. So really, without air conditioning, we 127 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:10,520 Speaker 1: wouldn't have the vast server farms that make online shopping 128 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:13,760 Speaker 1: and really the Internet itself possible. Yeah, that's very true. 129 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:16,400 Speaker 1: And it's hard to imagine cities in the Nations Sun Belt, 130 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:19,640 Speaker 1: you know, ever, of really emerging without air conditioning. We 131 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:21,880 Speaker 1: just think about how hot it's been here this summer 132 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:24,560 Speaker 1: in Atlanta. I can't imagine there's anyway you would have 133 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:26,880 Speaker 1: made the move to Atlanta if we didn't have air conditioning, 134 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:30,960 Speaker 1: not when I looked at it, like all the states 135 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:33,760 Speaker 1: in the Sun Belt, so there's Georgia, but also like Arizona, 136 00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:37,400 Speaker 1: New Mexico, Texas, Southern California. It's amazing to think they 137 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:40,240 Speaker 1: all experienced population booms during the second half of the 138 00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:43,920 Speaker 1: twentieth century, you know, when air conditioning became commonplace and 139 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:46,760 Speaker 1: people's homes and offices, so they it's a boom. But 140 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:48,839 Speaker 1: like how big of a boom are we talking? Well? 141 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:51,960 Speaker 1: Pretty big. I mean between nineteen fifty and two thousand, 142 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:54,840 Speaker 1: the sun belts share of the national population shot up 143 00:06:54,839 --> 00:06:58,880 Speaker 1: from twenty percent to Oh wow, that's pretty huge, all right, 144 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 1: So the economic effect of air conditioning are definitely coming 145 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:03,920 Speaker 1: into focus now. But I want to back up a 146 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:06,640 Speaker 1: little bit. I mean, what's the story behind air conditioning, 147 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:09,320 Speaker 1: you know, the origins of it. I know Tim included 148 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:11,680 Speaker 1: it on his list, but there's got to be some good, 149 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:14,640 Speaker 1: you know, background stories there. Absolutely, so finding a way 150 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:16,800 Speaker 1: to cool down in hot weather has been on humanity's 151 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:19,760 Speaker 1: mind forever and and in fact, there was this eccentric 152 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:23,920 Speaker 1: Roman emperor named Ella Gabalus who sent a thousand slaves 153 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:27,080 Speaker 1: into the mountains to fetch huge amounts of snow, which 154 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:29,320 Speaker 1: he then had them pile up in his garden. And 155 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 1: and that way it was just when the wind kicked up, 156 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:33,920 Speaker 1: the cooler air would blow inside his palace. So it 157 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,640 Speaker 1: took a thousand people to try to cool this one dude, 158 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:40,280 Speaker 1: Ella Gables. And I'm not sure that I remember that name. 159 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:42,160 Speaker 1: I would have to imagine that would not be easy 160 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:45,360 Speaker 1: to implement, though on like a wider scale, though definitely not. 161 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:48,280 Speaker 1: The concept was revived in the nineteenth century by an 162 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:52,680 Speaker 1: entrepreneur from Boston named Frederick Tudor. In winter, Tutor harvested 163 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 1: blocks of ice from frozen New England lakes. Then he 164 00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: packed the blocks and sawdust which served his installation, and 165 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:01,760 Speaker 1: he shipped the warmer regions in the summer. And the 166 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:04,760 Speaker 1: practice grew so popular that a mild New England winter 167 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:08,119 Speaker 1: like it would cause this panic all over and people 168 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:11,320 Speaker 1: would worry about a potential ice famine next summer. But 169 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:14,360 Speaker 1: my favorite revival of this Roman emperor's methods happened in 170 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:17,240 Speaker 1: one after a President Garfield took a bullet from a 171 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:20,880 Speaker 1: would be assassin. He had naval engineers construct this makeshift 172 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:23,600 Speaker 1: cooling device to keep him comfortable while he slowly died. 173 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:27,240 Speaker 1: That summer, so sad, but following the Romans lead, the 174 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:30,040 Speaker 1: device cooled the room down by blowing air over a 175 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:33,560 Speaker 1: cold material. So you know, Garfield was super smart and 176 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:35,960 Speaker 1: and these naval officers are bright, and they got cotton 177 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:38,080 Speaker 1: sheets that have been soaked in ice water, and that's 178 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:40,520 Speaker 1: how they created the coldness. That's the best the Navy 179 00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:42,400 Speaker 1: could come up with. I have to be honest, that 180 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:45,560 Speaker 1: doesn't seem that impressive. Well it's kind of impressive, but 181 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:49,600 Speaker 1: just like with the Emperor's snow Mountain. It was incredibly 182 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:53,360 Speaker 1: wasteful and impractical, and Garfield's caretakers supposedly went through half 183 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:56,120 Speaker 1: a million pounds of ice in just two one. Oh wow, 184 00:08:56,160 --> 00:08:58,480 Speaker 1: that is insane. All right, well, why don't you tell 185 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:01,160 Speaker 1: us how proper air conditioning then became a reality. I 186 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:04,360 Speaker 1: appreciated all that background information, but let's talk about more 187 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:06,600 Speaker 1: modern form. This is not how it happens right now. 188 00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 1: I said, no, people aren't carrying snowback. Actually, before I 189 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:12,880 Speaker 1: do that, I didn't want to go on a little 190 00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:16,440 Speaker 1: tangent about how smart Garfield was. He was this president 191 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:18,520 Speaker 1: that could write Latin with one hand and Greek with 192 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:21,240 Speaker 1: the other. Um, but he was also too smart for 193 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:23,720 Speaker 1: his own good. Like you know, when he caught that bullet, 194 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:26,160 Speaker 1: he had doctors used a metal detector to locate it, 195 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:28,560 Speaker 1: which is really a smart idea, but they forgot to 196 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:33,160 Speaker 1: count for the bed springs. So the doctors went all 197 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:36,040 Speaker 1: these exploratory missions, like trying to find things they thought 198 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:41,480 Speaker 1: were the bullet, but I thought just bullets. Tangent, that's 199 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:45,560 Speaker 1: a good one. But back to air conditioning. So the 200 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:48,600 Speaker 1: air conditioning we know today got its start in nineteen two, 201 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:52,760 Speaker 1: following the much needed advent of electricity, and and uh, surprisingly, 202 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:54,960 Speaker 1: the invention of a C had nothing to do with 203 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:58,840 Speaker 1: making people more comfortable. It was actually invented by Willis Carrier. 204 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:02,240 Speaker 1: He's this young engineer at a heating company called Buffalo Forge, 205 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:05,080 Speaker 1: and it was this big printing company had actually tasked 206 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:07,720 Speaker 1: Buffalo Forge with creating a system to help control the 207 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:10,880 Speaker 1: heat and humidity and their factories. So they needed something 208 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:13,560 Speaker 1: to help prevent paper from wrinkling and from their ink 209 00:10:13,559 --> 00:10:16,040 Speaker 1: from running down the paper like during the printing process. 210 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:18,320 Speaker 1: And so Carrier was put in charge of the project 211 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:22,280 Speaker 1: and he's quickly figured out that circulating air over coils 212 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:25,319 Speaker 1: that were chilled by compressed ammonia, that that could help 213 00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:29,679 Speaker 1: keep the humidity at a constant and as you might guess, 214 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:32,480 Speaker 1: this thrilled the printers to no end. Wow, that's interesting 215 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:34,959 Speaker 1: that it really wasn't about people at first. So how 216 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:37,880 Speaker 1: did this transition happen, you know, going from printing factories 217 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:40,720 Speaker 1: to people's homes. Well, it was kind of slow because 218 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:44,080 Speaker 1: Carrier's original model was pretty massive, and at first the 219 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:47,200 Speaker 1: company just stuck to the other industrial clients, like you know, 220 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:50,560 Speaker 1: other places have been plagued by humidity. Uh, you can 221 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:53,360 Speaker 1: think about like flour mills, or even like the Gillette 222 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:56,000 Speaker 1: Corporation was a client. The moisture from humidity was just 223 00:10:56,040 --> 00:10:58,280 Speaker 1: as bad for razor blades as it was for paper. 224 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:02,840 Speaker 1: But um Still, Carrier knew his invention had wider applications, 225 00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:05,839 Speaker 1: so four years later, in nineteen o six, he started 226 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:08,640 Speaker 1: looking into possibilities for adding a C to public buildings, 227 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:11,920 Speaker 1: but instead of government buildings or offices, he decided to 228 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:15,440 Speaker 1: target theaters, which traditionally shut down during the summer months. Yeah, 229 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:17,360 Speaker 1: I mean, I can imagine. You can imagine all these 230 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:20,640 Speaker 1: packed bodies and one room the windows no a C. 231 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:23,240 Speaker 1: And it's definitely not a great recipe for getting people 232 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:26,240 Speaker 1: in there, not at all, and especially considering the best 233 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:28,600 Speaker 1: option for cooling a theater at the time was the 234 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:31,319 Speaker 1: way Tutor used to do it, Like some theaters had 235 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:33,559 Speaker 1: used large fans to blow air over ice and help 236 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:36,800 Speaker 1: cool the audience. I mean the downside was, you forget 237 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:39,320 Speaker 1: about this, that pollution was on the rise, and especially 238 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:41,880 Speaker 1: in New England's lakes, so so the damp air from 239 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:45,679 Speaker 1: the melting ice it's sometimes made the whole place reek 240 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:50,040 Speaker 1: and so um so so Carrier's new device, which which 241 00:11:50,080 --> 00:11:53,200 Speaker 1: he called the weather Maker, was this obvious upgrade, you know. 242 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:56,000 Speaker 1: I mean, I've heard this before about people's first exposured 243 00:11:56,080 --> 00:11:58,439 Speaker 1: air conditioning being in the nineteen twenties, you know, back 244 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:01,079 Speaker 1: when movie theaters started popping up ball over the country. 245 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:03,400 Speaker 1: But it actually never occurred to me to think about 246 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:06,000 Speaker 1: the economic upheam that would have occurred here. I mean, 247 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:08,120 Speaker 1: you know, look at where we are now with summer 248 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:11,760 Speaker 1: blockbusters raking in billions every year, and you figure a 249 00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:13,320 Speaker 1: lot of this has to do with people wanting to 250 00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:15,680 Speaker 1: get a break from the heat. Absolutely, And and when 251 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:19,160 Speaker 1: home model Lacey's started being produced on mass like in 252 00:12:19,160 --> 00:12:22,720 Speaker 1: in the post war nineteen fifties, they completely changed the 253 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:25,600 Speaker 1: way we live and the boom was insane. So I 254 00:12:25,679 --> 00:12:27,600 Speaker 1: just looked at these figures and I saw that there 255 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:32,720 Speaker 1: were seventy four thousand units sold in ninety versts a 256 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:35,960 Speaker 1: million units sold in nineteen fifty three. So that's like 257 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:38,319 Speaker 1: a crazy economic boom. But you know, the thing I 258 00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:40,559 Speaker 1: always think when I think of economic booms, like, I've 259 00:12:40,559 --> 00:12:43,280 Speaker 1: got to mention this is the mini golf craze in 260 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:46,320 Speaker 1: the they put like one course on a rooftop and 261 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:49,439 Speaker 1: in four years there were a hundred fifty courses on rooftops, 262 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:52,760 Speaker 1: like but actually there's a course on the roof of 263 00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:55,800 Speaker 1: our building here, I know, one of the few remaining. 264 00:12:55,840 --> 00:12:59,160 Speaker 1: I guess. Yeah. So it's impressive, but but the A 265 00:12:59,240 --> 00:13:01,800 Speaker 1: C is way more actical. Wow, it's it's interesting to 266 00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:03,000 Speaker 1: think about it. And I know we want to talk 267 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:04,880 Speaker 1: about a lot more inventions, but first I feel like 268 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:06,840 Speaker 1: we need to get Tim Harford himself on the line 269 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:09,319 Speaker 1: to give us a rundown of some of his favorite inventions. 270 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:19,199 Speaker 1: So our guest today as an award winning journalist, economist, 271 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:22,959 Speaker 1: and broadcaster triple threat. As we mentioned earlier in the episode, 272 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:26,239 Speaker 1: he's the author of the best selling The Undercover Economists, 273 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:28,920 Speaker 1: as well as Messy. But today we're going to be 274 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:31,600 Speaker 1: talking to him about this terrific book that we've been 275 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:35,440 Speaker 1: speaking about all episode long, and that's fifty inventions that 276 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:39,280 Speaker 1: shape the modern economy. Tim Harford, welcome to Part Time Genius. 277 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:41,680 Speaker 1: It's great to be on the show. Thank you. Now. 278 00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:44,439 Speaker 1: I know that, um, when we asked you to come 279 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:46,800 Speaker 1: on the show, you said that you would only appear 280 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:49,600 Speaker 1: if both Manguesh and I were on the line, and 281 00:13:49,679 --> 00:13:53,079 Speaker 1: I've got bad news. This uh, this hurricane now tropical 282 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:54,959 Speaker 1: storm has thrown us for a bit of a loop. 283 00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:58,400 Speaker 1: So I appreciate your willingness still to come on despite 284 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:01,000 Speaker 1: what we'd agreed to earlier. It's I felt it was 285 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:04,319 Speaker 1: the least I could do. Although you see, my familiarity 286 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:07,040 Speaker 1: with American geography is is not as hot as it 287 00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:09,120 Speaker 1: might be. So for all I know you, you guys 288 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:12,000 Speaker 1: are actually speaking in Alaska and there aren't any hurricanes there. 289 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:14,880 Speaker 1: But in all seriousness, I hope that that you and 290 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:17,480 Speaker 1: all your colleagues are safe. Thank you very much. Everyone 291 00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:20,400 Speaker 1: has done fine. Our our studios are in Atlanta, and 292 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:22,600 Speaker 1: for our listeners, let you in on a little bit 293 00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:25,160 Speaker 1: of a secret. We don't always record our interviews on 294 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:27,840 Speaker 1: the same days as the rest of our episode, and 295 00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:30,320 Speaker 1: so our offices have been closed for a couple of days. 296 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:32,680 Speaker 1: But everyone seems to be okay, and so our thoughts 297 00:14:32,680 --> 00:14:36,240 Speaker 1: are obviously with all of those affected by Hurricane Irma 298 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:39,960 Speaker 1: over the past few days in Florida and everywhere else. 299 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:42,640 Speaker 1: But let's get started to talk about this book that 300 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:45,680 Speaker 1: we've really fallen in love with, Fifty inventions that shape 301 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:48,200 Speaker 1: the modern economy, One of the things I love about 302 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:51,040 Speaker 1: it is that even though it's really structured as this 303 00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:54,240 Speaker 1: really kind of a massive list and we love list, 304 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:58,400 Speaker 1: there's still such a terrific narrative quality throughout the book, 305 00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:00,760 Speaker 1: and you feel like you can follow the these stories. 306 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:03,280 Speaker 1: And I was just wondering, you know how much time 307 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:05,960 Speaker 1: it took to try to pull this off, because you 308 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:10,000 Speaker 1: could just say, here are fifty inventions and facts about them, 309 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:13,400 Speaker 1: but you really took such great efforts to weave then 310 00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:15,960 Speaker 1: such terrific narrative through all of this. I was just 311 00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:18,520 Speaker 1: curious to hear about the process of writing this book. 312 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:21,280 Speaker 1: You're very kind, thank you. I mean, one of the 313 00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:25,840 Speaker 1: great things about um the way that I wrote the 314 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:29,200 Speaker 1: book was there's also a BBC series based on the book, 315 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:33,680 Speaker 1: and it's it's nine minute episodes, and each episode has 316 00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:36,880 Speaker 1: got to stand alone because somebody might just tune in, 317 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:41,000 Speaker 1: they might just listen to that one story and there's 318 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:43,280 Speaker 1: no context for anything, and so you've you've got to 319 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:47,920 Speaker 1: make the story work. And nine minutes he is about words. 320 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:50,920 Speaker 1: It's long enough to say some interesting stuff, but it's 321 00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:53,160 Speaker 1: it's never long enough to say everything you might want 322 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:55,800 Speaker 1: to say, And so you've got to pick a good 323 00:15:55,840 --> 00:16:01,720 Speaker 1: hook and drive towards a particular point, and there's loads 324 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:04,200 Speaker 1: and loads that that you always leave out. And I 325 00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:08,560 Speaker 1: found actually incredibly fun to write like that. I had 326 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:11,480 Speaker 1: never really quite written a book in that style before, 327 00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:14,760 Speaker 1: but it worked, It worked nicely. So yeah, the story 328 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:17,160 Speaker 1: is always the thing. Well, it was terrific. And part 329 00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:20,600 Speaker 1: of the fun is is seeing chapters that you don't 330 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:23,920 Speaker 1: always realize just how entertaining or interesting they're going to be. 331 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:26,880 Speaker 1: Just just as an example, you know, a chapter on 332 00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:29,760 Speaker 1: concrete where you're talking about the influence that it had. 333 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:31,680 Speaker 1: And I have to mean, when I first saw you'd 334 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:34,880 Speaker 1: listed concrete as one of these inventions that had shaped 335 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:37,440 Speaker 1: the modern economy, I really thought it was going to 336 00:16:37,480 --> 00:16:40,440 Speaker 1: be about I don't know, maybe communist structures and Edison. 337 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:44,480 Speaker 1: But you know, you talk about how concrete is influencing education, 338 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:46,400 Speaker 1: so I was hoping maybe you could tell us a 339 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:48,880 Speaker 1: little bit about that, and and also why you find 340 00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:52,360 Speaker 1: concrete so interesting. Yeah, I mean I should say, Chushia 341 00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:55,600 Speaker 1: of form of Soviet Premier did once give a two 342 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 1: hour lecture on the subject of concrete and what good 343 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:02,040 Speaker 1: Soviet concrete should be like, So it's there is there 344 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:05,560 Speaker 1: is some Soviet brutalism in there, but yeah. So I 345 00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:08,240 Speaker 1: began with a great story that I heard from the 346 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:14,400 Speaker 1: development economist Charles Kenny about using a concrete ready mixed 347 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:18,440 Speaker 1: concrete as an anti poverty program in rural Mexico about 348 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:23,040 Speaker 1: fifteen years ago. So development organizations and governments are always 349 00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:25,600 Speaker 1: trying to figure out where if we throw some money 350 00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:27,960 Speaker 1: at the problem of poverty, is there something we can do. 351 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:30,280 Speaker 1: Maybe we should give people cash, maybe we should give 352 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:34,479 Speaker 1: people vaccinations, maybe we should provide schools. This particular poverty 353 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:37,320 Speaker 1: program anti poverty program said, we are going to provide 354 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:41,680 Speaker 1: ready mixed concrete. We're going to drive through these low 355 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:46,000 Speaker 1: income townships right up to people's doors. Obviously, it's it's 356 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:47,800 Speaker 1: pre arranged whore you're going to go to. And then 357 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:50,840 Speaker 1: they opened the door and you just pour the ready 358 00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:56,359 Speaker 1: mixed concrete from the mixer lorry the mixer truck straight 359 00:17:56,359 --> 00:18:00,000 Speaker 1: into the front room. And the people who live there 360 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:02,399 Speaker 1: have been given instructions as to how to smooth it 361 00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:04,600 Speaker 1: out and look after it themselves, and they just wait 362 00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:08,040 Speaker 1: and give it a few hours and it cures and 363 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:11,320 Speaker 1: then you have a concrete floor and the truck drives 364 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:13,679 Speaker 1: off to the next household, and it turns out to 365 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:18,920 Speaker 1: be fantastically effective as an anti poverty intervention because these 366 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:23,200 Speaker 1: floors are they're much more clean, they're much more hygieneq. 367 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:26,480 Speaker 1: In particular, there's a problem with parasitic worms that the 368 00:18:26,520 --> 00:18:28,879 Speaker 1: kids will pick up through their their bare feet, and 369 00:18:28,920 --> 00:18:33,000 Speaker 1: they make them sick they missed school. Put the concrete 370 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:35,919 Speaker 1: floor in and this problem largely goes away, and so 371 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:38,280 Speaker 1: the whole health of the household, the mental health of 372 00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:41,920 Speaker 1: the parents, the physical health of the children all improves. 373 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:45,240 Speaker 1: And it's incredibly cheap. And so I was just trying 374 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:48,399 Speaker 1: to get people to look at this really unromantic substance 375 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:51,359 Speaker 1: in a different way. If we use it wisely, it 376 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:54,439 Speaker 1: can do a tremendous amount of good. Another invention that 377 00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:56,879 Speaker 1: you talk about, and something that we actually covered a 378 00:18:56,920 --> 00:18:59,040 Speaker 1: bit in an episode we did a few weeks ago 379 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:03,000 Speaker 1: on ike and their Secrets of IKEA. I'm curious to 380 00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:05,480 Speaker 1: hear from, you know, including the Billy bookcase and a 381 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:08,479 Speaker 1: list of the inventions you know what makes it so 382 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:10,520 Speaker 1: special and worthy of being on a list like this. 383 00:19:11,119 --> 00:19:13,080 Speaker 1: I'm totally going to download that episode. By the way, 384 00:19:13,119 --> 00:19:15,920 Speaker 1: that sounds great. The reason I put the Billy Bookcase 385 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:18,679 Speaker 1: in was because I wanted people to think about what 386 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:22,760 Speaker 1: innovation looks like in a modern economy. We get very 387 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:28,840 Speaker 1: fixated on certain particularly sexy, eye catching innovations, so things 388 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:34,560 Speaker 1: like the latest iPhone, m Google algorithms, big data, and 389 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:37,960 Speaker 1: actually a lot of the innovation that that makes the 390 00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:41,280 Speaker 1: modern economy what it is is very simple. It's unromantic. 391 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:44,639 Speaker 1: It's all about process. It's all about shaving off a 392 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:47,280 Speaker 1: bit of cost here, a bit of cost. They're getting 393 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:50,240 Speaker 1: the supply chains working a bit more smoothly, maybe trying 394 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:55,240 Speaker 1: to get the logistics reduced transport costs. It's it's not sexy, 395 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:59,560 Speaker 1: it's not exciting, but it is the reason why the 396 00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:04,240 Speaker 1: you know, the dollar in your wallet goes so much further. 397 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:07,080 Speaker 1: You know, for an hour's work, you can buy much 398 00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:11,280 Speaker 1: more than you could thirty, forty, fifty hundred years ago. 399 00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:16,960 Speaker 1: And a lot of that is just this very a straightforward, unromantic, 400 00:20:17,359 --> 00:20:22,000 Speaker 1: unheralded logistical innovation. And the Billy bookcase stands as the 401 00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:24,760 Speaker 1: representative of all of that kind of stuff. That and 402 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:27,439 Speaker 1: of course the shipping container, which gets gets his own chapter. 403 00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:29,560 Speaker 1: I was curious to hear a few. If you had 404 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:33,800 Speaker 1: a favorite overlooked older invention, you know, maybe something older 405 00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:37,359 Speaker 1: than you know, fifty sixty years that that maybe you 406 00:20:37,359 --> 00:20:41,000 Speaker 1: didn't realize would be quite so interesting when you dived in. Yeah, 407 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:43,160 Speaker 1: there is one, the one that I have a really 408 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:45,640 Speaker 1: soft spot for. I mean, while I was writing the book, 409 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:48,040 Speaker 1: I went all the way back to the plow, which 410 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:52,480 Speaker 1: is maybe five six, seven thousand years old and bang 411 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:56,320 Speaker 1: up to date inventions like the sell of feedback mechanism 412 00:20:56,400 --> 00:20:59,280 Speaker 1: used by Uber. But the invention that I have a 413 00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:03,840 Speaker 1: really soft spot four is well, let me keep you 414 00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:06,080 Speaker 1: hanging for a second. Everybody said, as I was working 415 00:21:06,119 --> 00:21:08,720 Speaker 1: on the book, you've got to do the Guttenberg Press. 416 00:21:10,119 --> 00:21:14,120 Speaker 1: It transformed Europe, put Europe at the center of world civilization, 417 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:17,399 Speaker 1: gave us the textbook, the newspaper, the novel, mass literacy, 418 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:22,280 Speaker 1: the Reformation is completely transformative. But when you look at 419 00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:25,640 Speaker 1: the products of the Guttenberg Press, these beautiful Guttenberg Bibles, 420 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:29,119 Speaker 1: you have to ask what they're printed on. And most 421 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:31,080 Speaker 1: of them, not all of them, but most of them 422 00:21:31,119 --> 00:21:35,320 Speaker 1: are printed on paper. And the printing press doesn't make 423 00:21:35,359 --> 00:21:39,640 Speaker 1: economic sense without paper. I mean, as a practical matter, 424 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:43,320 Speaker 1: you can print on animal skin parchment, but you have 425 00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:47,000 Speaker 1: to kill two and fifty thousand sheep. Literally, I counted 426 00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:49,200 Speaker 1: your law fall up. You have to kill two fifty 427 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:52,800 Speaker 1: sheep in order to get enough parchment to do an 428 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:55,800 Speaker 1: economically viable print run, say sort of four or five 429 00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:59,640 Speaker 1: thousand copies or something. So you need to mass produce 430 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:04,280 Speaker 1: paper before it makes any sense whatsoever to mass produce 431 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:07,960 Speaker 1: writing with The Chinese invented paper two thousand years ago. 432 00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:11,720 Speaker 1: It moved to the Middle East, the Islantic world, and 433 00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:15,159 Speaker 1: at six or seven hundred years a d they have 434 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:18,880 Speaker 1: mass literacy in that society, and the Europeans just were 435 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:22,080 Speaker 1: not interested. The idea that you have a cheap material 436 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:25,639 Speaker 1: to write your bibles on is like saying we're going 437 00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:27,840 Speaker 1: to have a cheap metal to make crowns out of. 438 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:31,880 Speaker 1: It felt like you were violating this this sacred thing 439 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:35,159 Speaker 1: so nobody can. And it was only when Europeans started 440 00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:41,280 Speaker 1: getting more and more sophisticated commercial culture, to contracts, accounts, receipts, 441 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:43,760 Speaker 1: that sort of thing, that you start getting this demand 442 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:46,920 Speaker 1: for a cheap writing surface, and that's when paper finally 443 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:50,360 Speaker 1: starts to take off, maybe the thirteenth century, and then 444 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:53,040 Speaker 1: Shortly after that you get the Goods and book press. Wow, 445 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:56,240 Speaker 1: that's incredible. You've taught us so many things. But we 446 00:22:56,359 --> 00:22:58,359 Speaker 1: can't let you leave without putting you to the test. 447 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:00,920 Speaker 1: And even though mangas the author many of our quizzes, 448 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:02,879 Speaker 1: is unable to be here, he did send me a 449 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:06,000 Speaker 1: quiz to excellent excellent to test you with today. And 450 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:08,720 Speaker 1: it's called real invention from the U. S. Patent Office 451 00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:12,679 Speaker 1: or something we made up. Okay, so what I'll do 452 00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:14,760 Speaker 1: is I'll give you a ridiculous invention and you have 453 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:17,280 Speaker 1: to tell me whether it's something uh that's actually in 454 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:19,879 Speaker 1: the U. S. Patent Office or something we just made up. 455 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:23,440 Speaker 1: Simple as that, you're ready to go, alright? Question one. 456 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:28,080 Speaker 1: Jet propulsion golf clubs. This gas powered high pressure water 457 00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:30,960 Speaker 1: pump and tank forces water through a hose and into 458 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:34,359 Speaker 1: your hollow club. When you're ready to swing, just press 459 00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:37,440 Speaker 1: the red button and hang on, and highly pressurized water 460 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:39,920 Speaker 1: shoots out the back of your club and propels your 461 00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:43,520 Speaker 1: swing forward. Is this something that was actually at the U. S. 462 00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:46,960 Speaker 1: Patent Office or something we made up? I know there's 463 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:49,879 Speaker 1: some truly ridiculous patents, but I'm going to guess that 464 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:52,720 Speaker 1: you made that one up. We actually did not make 465 00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:55,040 Speaker 1: that one up. That is true, and that that one 466 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:58,040 Speaker 1: did in fact happen. So all right, I got a 467 00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:01,399 Speaker 1: chance to make up for a number two, the aquarium vest. 468 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:04,080 Speaker 1: If you love your fish bowl but hate leaving it 469 00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:07,080 Speaker 1: at home on walks, the aquarium vest is for you. 470 00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:10,080 Speaker 1: Just fill it up with water, PLoP in your fish, 471 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:13,760 Speaker 1: and get out and go. Okay, that's got to be 472 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:18,160 Speaker 1: made up. It is. Yeah, good gauge on that one. Okay. 473 00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:22,440 Speaker 1: Question number three the bananas suitcase. No one likes a 474 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:25,840 Speaker 1: bruised banana. That's why the banana suitcase offers a protective 475 00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:30,320 Speaker 1: plastic case for carrying a single banana around. Something tells 476 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:34,320 Speaker 1: me I have actually seen that invention. I'm pretty sure 477 00:24:34,359 --> 00:24:36,560 Speaker 1: I've seen that invention and so on, And if the 478 00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:39,000 Speaker 1: invention exists, the pattern probably also exists. So I'm gonna 479 00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:42,040 Speaker 1: say that that is real. You are absolutely right. It 480 00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:44,919 Speaker 1: was patented in two thousand three. Okay, here we go 481 00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:49,119 Speaker 1: to the last question is the pogo stick weed whacker. 482 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:51,160 Speaker 1: I have to ask, are you familiar with the pogo stick? 483 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:53,640 Speaker 1: Is that something that exam familiar with the pogo stick? 484 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:55,520 Speaker 1: My daughter, in fact, has a pogo stick, but she 485 00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:57,800 Speaker 1: doesn't have a weed whackers and I was gonna say, yeah, 486 00:24:57,800 --> 00:24:59,440 Speaker 1: you could, you could put her to even more use. 487 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:01,399 Speaker 1: Let's at the description here is if you want to 488 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:04,840 Speaker 1: put the fund back into thankless gardening chores, the poco 489 00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:07,920 Speaker 1: stick weed whacker is for you. With every bounce, a 490 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:12,880 Speaker 1: monofilament line spins out, helping to edge grass and trim weeds. 491 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:15,320 Speaker 1: Is this something with a real patent or something we 492 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:20,160 Speaker 1: just made up a mono for them, So it's it 493 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:21,840 Speaker 1: until you're just going to I was gonna say, yeah, 494 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:24,439 Speaker 1: it's real, but now I can't possibly imagine how it 495 00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:27,000 Speaker 1: could work, so I'm gonna guess it's made up. And 496 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:29,320 Speaker 1: you are absolutely right. It is something that we just 497 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:32,440 Speaker 1: made up. And I believe that makes you three out 498 00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:35,040 Speaker 1: of four, which wins you our top prize, which is 499 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:37,960 Speaker 1: a note to your mom or boss singing your praises. 500 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:41,240 Speaker 1: So Tim, congratulations for the win. Here. Oh that's that's 501 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:44,080 Speaker 1: it's real, it's real less and that's a that's a 502 00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:46,639 Speaker 1: good time. That's right. Well, I hope all of our 503 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:49,800 Speaker 1: listeners will check out Fifty Inventions that Shape the Modern Economy. 504 00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:52,640 Speaker 1: It really is a terrific book. And Tim Harford, thanks 505 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:55,640 Speaker 1: so much for joining us on Part Time Genius. My pleasure. Thanks. 506 00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:10,960 Speaker 1: You're listening to Part Time Genius, and we're talking about 507 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:13,520 Speaker 1: a few of the surprising inventions that have shaped the 508 00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:16,879 Speaker 1: modern world economy. So mego before the break. You mentioned 509 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:19,400 Speaker 1: how air conditioning paved the way for an economy where 510 00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:22,919 Speaker 1: movies and television are big business, and so now I 511 00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:24,960 Speaker 1: want to talk about an invention that forever changed the 512 00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:30,240 Speaker 1: music industry, and that is the grammophone. I just feel 513 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:33,000 Speaker 1: like this is a tough sell, Like air conditioners aren't 514 00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:36,640 Speaker 1: going anywhere, but the gramophone gonna be big. I mean, 515 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:38,240 Speaker 1: it seems like it had an effect on an economy 516 00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:40,439 Speaker 1: at a time, but like that feels like a long 517 00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:43,120 Speaker 1: time ago. All right, Well, we'll get to the lingering 518 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:45,360 Speaker 1: impact of the grammophone, but I do want to give 519 00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:47,000 Speaker 1: you a sense of why it was such a game 520 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:49,600 Speaker 1: changer in the first place. And to do that, we've 521 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:53,800 Speaker 1: got to get acquainted with one miss Elizabeth billing traits. 522 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:56,880 Speaker 1: Do you are you familiar with No, not at all? All. Right, Well, 523 00:26:56,920 --> 00:27:00,240 Speaker 1: over two hundred years ago, well before recorded sound was 524 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:03,200 Speaker 1: a thing, she was actually the highest paid solo singer 525 00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:05,760 Speaker 1: in the world. Some even said she was the most 526 00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:09,480 Speaker 1: talented English soprano of all time, and yet nobody knows 527 00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:12,240 Speaker 1: who she is now. In fact, when the composer Joseph 528 00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:15,679 Speaker 1: Hyden saw a painting that showed Billington's being serenaded by 529 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:18,600 Speaker 1: a choir of angels, he actually got irritated with us 530 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:21,680 Speaker 1: and he said the angels should be listening to her. God, 531 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:23,840 Speaker 1: And I don't think of Hyden is such a super fan. 532 00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:27,040 Speaker 1: It's yeah, well he was definitely had some steep competition 533 00:27:27,119 --> 00:27:29,639 Speaker 1: even for for that as well. I mean outside the 534 00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:33,119 Speaker 1: concert halls. Billington's was every bit as famous. There was 535 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:36,040 Speaker 1: even this scandalous biography written about her. So it sounds 536 00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:38,040 Speaker 1: like a lot of the you know, the modern day 537 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:40,520 Speaker 1: celebrities that we would think of. And so, just like 538 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:43,240 Speaker 1: with today's pop stars, the public went wild for her 539 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:46,600 Speaker 1: offstage annex, you know, prompting a very pricey bidding war 540 00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:50,320 Speaker 1: for her performances. This was between London's top opera houses, 541 00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:54,000 Speaker 1: so I'm sure Elizabeth appreciated the pay day. But so 542 00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:56,520 Speaker 1: you've got to help me out. What does a singer 543 00:27:56,560 --> 00:27:58,560 Speaker 1: who pre dates recorded sound have to do with the 544 00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:01,440 Speaker 1: grand fun alright? Well, you know, so Tim uses her 545 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:04,720 Speaker 1: story to help underscore the different levels of success as 546 00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:08,360 Speaker 1: singer could attain before and after an artist was able 547 00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:11,520 Speaker 1: to produce recordings of their songs. So, in Billington's case, 548 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:13,600 Speaker 1: you know, the most she ever made in a year 549 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:16,479 Speaker 1: was the equivalent of about a million dollars today. I mean, 550 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:18,760 Speaker 1: can you even imagine trying to live on only a 551 00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:22,360 Speaker 1: million dollars and just bless her heart? As Mama would say, 552 00:28:22,359 --> 00:28:25,359 Speaker 1: you know, well, it definitely doesn't sound like a small sum. 553 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:29,359 Speaker 1: I'm sure it's nowhere near what today's musicians. No, it's true. 554 00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:31,159 Speaker 1: I was looking at the list from Forbes, and the 555 00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:34,600 Speaker 1: highest paid solo singer in two thousand fifteen was this 556 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:37,280 Speaker 1: guy named Elton John. I don't know if you're familiar 557 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:40,920 Speaker 1: with this John, gentlemen, but he reportedly netted a hundred 558 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:43,720 Speaker 1: million dollars that year. It actually, it's crazy to imagine 559 00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:48,160 Speaker 1: that in two thousand, still making a hundred million dollars 560 00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:50,560 Speaker 1: a year all in two thousand and sixteen, This one 561 00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:53,120 Speaker 1: won't be a surprise. Can you guess who this probably was? 562 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:57,840 Speaker 1: Taylor Swift? She told them a hundred and seventy million dollars, 563 00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:00,520 Speaker 1: making her actually not just the highest paid musician, but 564 00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:03,160 Speaker 1: the highest paid celebrity of any kind. Well, you're saying 565 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:06,080 Speaker 1: there was a huge disparity between Billington's take and Taylor 566 00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:08,920 Speaker 1: Swift's is because of the gramophone, Well, I mean sort of. 567 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:11,560 Speaker 1: So nearly sixty years after Billington died, there was this 568 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:14,600 Speaker 1: economist named Alfred Marshall, and he was taking stock of 569 00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:19,560 Speaker 1: how the electric telegraph had drastically affected the world's top industrialists. 570 00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:21,560 Speaker 1: And so basically, you know, he was saying that the 571 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:26,000 Speaker 1: rapid communication of telegraphs gave successful businessman an even bigger 572 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:28,520 Speaker 1: field to operate in. So you know, now they weren't 573 00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:30,200 Speaker 1: just limited to where they were from, but they could 574 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:33,479 Speaker 1: make money in Europe or Australia or wherever. And and 575 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:37,120 Speaker 1: so Marshall recognized that the new technology wouldn't benefit the 576 00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:40,200 Speaker 1: cream of the crop in other professional fields, so you know, 577 00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:43,200 Speaker 1: say the performing arts. And so Marshall wrote, the number 578 00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:45,600 Speaker 1: of persons who can be reached by a human voice 579 00:29:45,760 --> 00:29:49,440 Speaker 1: is strictly limited. So Billington's earning power was capped by 580 00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:51,680 Speaker 1: the fact that you could only give so many performances 581 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:53,880 Speaker 1: and and only so many people could fit into a 582 00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:57,120 Speaker 1: concert Hall at one time, which makes sense. But but 583 00:29:57,240 --> 00:29:59,479 Speaker 1: Marshall is right, like the telegraph isn't going to help 584 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:03,760 Speaker 1: with that. Sure, So enter the grammophone or or actually 585 00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:06,280 Speaker 1: enter the phonograph. And this was the first machine that 586 00:30:06,280 --> 00:30:09,520 Speaker 1: could both record and reproduce the human voice. Right. So 587 00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:11,840 Speaker 1: that's one of Edison's inventions, the one that used like 588 00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:14,960 Speaker 1: wax cylinders or whatever instead does right. Right. So Edison 589 00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:17,800 Speaker 1: patent to this in eighteen seventy seven, And this was 590 00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:20,080 Speaker 1: just a couple of years after Marshall's musings on the 591 00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:23,480 Speaker 1: Limitation of the human voice. And it wasn't long after 592 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:27,120 Speaker 1: that that people realized the real economic potential of this invention, 593 00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:30,280 Speaker 1: you know, namely the ability to record the best singers 594 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:33,200 Speaker 1: and sell their recordings. So here's what I understand, Like, 595 00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:35,360 Speaker 1: why are we talking about the gramophone when we should 596 00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:38,719 Speaker 1: be talking about the phonograph? Well, because patients here, I'm 597 00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:42,000 Speaker 1: gonna get to it. Because revolutionary as it was, the 598 00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:47,000 Speaker 1: phonograph had some considerable weakness. So not only was the 599 00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:50,040 Speaker 1: sound quality of its cylinder's poor, they also couldn't be 600 00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:53,240 Speaker 1: mass produced and a performance could only be captured on 601 00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:56,239 Speaker 1: a maximum of three or four phonographs at once, and 602 00:30:56,640 --> 00:30:58,480 Speaker 1: so that means that even if a singer wanted to 603 00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:02,000 Speaker 1: exhaust their voice by singing the same song fifty times 604 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:05,760 Speaker 1: in a day, they'd still only have two recordings to 605 00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:08,640 Speaker 1: show for this trouble. Actually, you want to know something weird. 606 00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:12,080 Speaker 1: I actually have one of these in my house. This 607 00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:14,320 Speaker 1: is one of my favorite things I've ever owned. My 608 00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:17,360 Speaker 1: grandfather he was an antique dealer, and he had gotten 609 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:19,840 Speaker 1: one of these, was called an Edison amber all and 610 00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:23,320 Speaker 1: it's got these wax cylinders and I kind of get it. 611 00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:25,000 Speaker 1: Maybe why it didn't catch on? Do you want to 612 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:28,080 Speaker 1: hear one of these? Okay, so check this one out. 613 00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:30,880 Speaker 1: This one's called um, I Don't Want to Get Well, 614 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:33,000 Speaker 1: and it's about a man that goes off to war, 615 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:37,240 Speaker 1: gets injured, he's being cared for, and then of course 616 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:40,160 Speaker 1: he falls in love with a nurse and doesn't want 617 00:31:40,160 --> 00:32:06,640 Speaker 1: to get well. I don't. Yeah, I think it's uh, 618 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:10,560 Speaker 1: it's duper a remix. But the photograph expanded the number 619 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:12,960 Speaker 1: of years that could be reached by human voice, but 620 00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:15,760 Speaker 1: not nearly as much as the gramophone. Yeah, I mean 621 00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:18,959 Speaker 1: it was only with Emile Berliner's invention of the gramophone 622 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:23,280 Speaker 1: in seven that true mass production became possible, you know, 623 00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:26,520 Speaker 1: the reason being that Berliners recording machine used these flat 624 00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:29,480 Speaker 1: zinc discs to hold the recordings, and so you know, 625 00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:33,080 Speaker 1: these were suddenly portable and stackable and easier and cheaper, 626 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:36,080 Speaker 1: and you could produce these in large numbers and much 627 00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:39,239 Speaker 1: more so than the phonographs cylinders. And they sounded better too, 628 00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:42,000 Speaker 1: oh man. So think of how much more dope Billington 629 00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:44,120 Speaker 1: could have made if if the gramophone had been invented 630 00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:46,720 Speaker 1: like eighty years earlier. Yeah, it's really true, I mean 631 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:48,440 Speaker 1: so much more. She would have been one of the 632 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:50,920 Speaker 1: big winners of this breakthrough, you know, much like the 633 00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:55,120 Speaker 1: top industrialist that Alfred Marshal lauded before. And and you know, 634 00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:57,080 Speaker 1: still this is something that Tim also points out in 635 00:32:57,120 --> 00:33:01,440 Speaker 1: the book several times that every impact invention it creates 636 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:04,960 Speaker 1: both economic winners and economic losers. And it's something that 637 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:07,760 Speaker 1: you don't often stop to think about. So in this case, 638 00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:11,000 Speaker 1: you know, thinking about recorded sound, the losers were actually 639 00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:13,880 Speaker 1: what we're called as these these journeymen singers or these 640 00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:16,880 Speaker 1: lesser known B level acts who actually did pretty well 641 00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:19,800 Speaker 1: for themselves when choices were limited. And let's say one 642 00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:23,120 Speaker 1: of Billington's concerts was already sold out. But as Tim 643 00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:25,640 Speaker 1: puts it, when you can listen to the best performers 644 00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:27,960 Speaker 1: in the world at home, why pay to here a 645 00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:31,600 Speaker 1: merely competent act in person, you know. So Thomas Edison's 646 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:34,760 Speaker 1: phonograph led the way towards this winner take all dynamic 647 00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:37,880 Speaker 1: in the industry, and so the top performers went from 648 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:41,200 Speaker 1: learning like Billington too much more like Elton John And 649 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:44,680 Speaker 1: then these slightly less good performers went from a pretty 650 00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:48,040 Speaker 1: comfortable living actually to really struggling to pay their bills. 651 00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:51,120 Speaker 1: And so these these gaps in quality became these huge 652 00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:54,080 Speaker 1: gaps and income. That's fascinating to think about. So the 653 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:56,760 Speaker 1: B level performers still had the same skill set, but 654 00:33:56,880 --> 00:33:59,400 Speaker 1: suddenly it's worth a whole lot less. And I wonder 655 00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:01,880 Speaker 1: if that's change much now with digital formats like m 656 00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:04,400 Speaker 1: P three's, because like for a lot of people, they 657 00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:06,960 Speaker 1: either buy new music like that or they simply stream 658 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:09,239 Speaker 1: it online for free. And it seems like there might 659 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:12,080 Speaker 1: be fewer ways to make money off music recordings now 660 00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:15,800 Speaker 1: without the struggle for sales, Maybe a bigger variety of 661 00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:18,839 Speaker 1: musicians get a chance to shine well. I mean, it's 662 00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:21,640 Speaker 1: a nice thought. But Tim also covers this and and 663 00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:24,640 Speaker 1: talks about the fact that, you know, the inequality between 664 00:34:24,680 --> 00:34:27,640 Speaker 1: big and small musical acts is actually still pretty much 665 00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:30,320 Speaker 1: in full effect. And in fact, I thought this statistic 666 00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:33,440 Speaker 1: was really interesting. The top one percent of artists make 667 00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:36,319 Speaker 1: more than five times more money than the bottom nine 668 00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:40,120 Speaker 1: put together, so it's pretty staggering. And the catches that 669 00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:43,240 Speaker 1: all these profits aren't coming from mass produced recordings anymore. 670 00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:47,000 Speaker 1: They're coming from live concerts, which is crazy because it's 671 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:49,480 Speaker 1: like we've gone full circle now, right, like from Billington's 672 00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:52,920 Speaker 1: days to live performances being back on top. Yeah, you know, 673 00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:56,239 Speaker 1: except those lucrative concert tours are driven by demand that 674 00:34:56,360 --> 00:34:58,879 Speaker 1: sparked from these recordings, so it's still a huge part 675 00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:01,640 Speaker 1: of it. And and that whole economic system, for better 676 00:35:01,719 --> 00:35:04,040 Speaker 1: or worse, it owes a huge debt of gratitude to 677 00:35:04,120 --> 00:35:09,680 Speaker 1: the Gramophone. See and I guess we owed a that 678 00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:13,280 Speaker 1: too since since we're podcast hosts, So so thank you, Granmophone. 679 00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:16,480 Speaker 1: That's right, life with you, okay. So, so we've looked 680 00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:18,440 Speaker 1: at two big ease and and one thing they have 681 00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:21,680 Speaker 1: in common besides being economic shapers, is that they're both 682 00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:25,759 Speaker 1: physical products, but they're also a fair amount of inventions 683 00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:29,160 Speaker 1: that are totally conceptual or abstract. So what do you 684 00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:31,680 Speaker 1: see we give those ideas to do all right, Well, 685 00:35:31,719 --> 00:35:34,600 Speaker 1: the conceptual inventions were definitely some of my favorites from 686 00:35:34,640 --> 00:35:37,960 Speaker 1: this book. You know, for example, the cold chain, And 687 00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:40,279 Speaker 1: have you ever heard of the cold chain? I had 688 00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:42,759 Speaker 1: not really thought known it as this term, but it 689 00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:44,880 Speaker 1: actually is pretty interesting to think about. This is this 690 00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:47,600 Speaker 1: is the term for the global you know, temperature controlled 691 00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:51,160 Speaker 1: supply system that keeps all these perishable goods and low 692 00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:54,080 Speaker 1: temperatures while they're being shipped and stored around the world. 693 00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:55,960 Speaker 1: So so think about the fact that, you know, we 694 00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:59,359 Speaker 1: wouldn't be able to transport blood or drugs or vaccines 695 00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:01,600 Speaker 1: without them going bad and transit if we didn't have 696 00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:04,880 Speaker 1: some way to keep them consistently cold, or you know, 697 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:08,040 Speaker 1: safely ship fish or meat for more than a day 698 00:36:08,080 --> 00:36:10,359 Speaker 1: or two away from where their packaged. Or even think 699 00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:13,040 Speaker 1: about things like fruits, you know, bananas, pineapples, all these 700 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:15,600 Speaker 1: things that get to our local grocery stores. None of 701 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:18,000 Speaker 1: these things would be possible. And it's as far as 702 00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:20,840 Speaker 1: getting them to us without the cold chain, I know, 703 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:23,640 Speaker 1: it's so weird that we get bananas like completely yellow, right, 704 00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:27,520 Speaker 1: But but the cold chain is pretty special and and 705 00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:29,960 Speaker 1: I like how it isn't the invention of anyone person, 706 00:36:30,040 --> 00:36:32,920 Speaker 1: like instead, it's this amazing result of like a bunch 707 00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:36,239 Speaker 1: of different people in different countries, on different continents, and 708 00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:39,680 Speaker 1: they're all meeting this like need in society and stepping 709 00:36:39,719 --> 00:36:41,920 Speaker 1: up to meet it like whatever they can. I mean, 710 00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:43,440 Speaker 1: just think about it, like how it braced down, Like 711 00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:46,120 Speaker 1: an engineer in France builds a ship with an onboard 712 00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:49,520 Speaker 1: refrigerator system and uh, and then a mechanic and Cincinnati 713 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:51,880 Speaker 1: starts outfitting trucks with the system of his own, and 714 00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:55,359 Speaker 1: little by little it's all linked together. It's kind of amazing. Yeah, 715 00:36:55,400 --> 00:36:57,120 Speaker 1: it really is. I mean, it's one of the most 716 00:36:57,160 --> 00:37:00,360 Speaker 1: influential inventions of the last century. And so you know, 717 00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:02,840 Speaker 1: the full chain came together really, I guess it was 718 00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:05,719 Speaker 1: in the late nineteen thirties around that time, and it's 719 00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:07,799 Speaker 1: odd to think of how even things like World War 720 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:11,040 Speaker 1: two might have been completely different without it. Definitely, But 721 00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:13,360 Speaker 1: you know, there was one abstract invention I wanted to 722 00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:16,280 Speaker 1: mention that's even newer than the cold chain. And Tim's 723 00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:20,279 Speaker 1: book covers things like insurance and intellectual property. But one 724 00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:24,040 Speaker 1: of my favorite entries was on seller feedback. Yeah, yeah, 725 00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:26,400 Speaker 1: I actually I thought that was an incredible section of that. 726 00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:28,800 Speaker 1: So this stuff that helps you determine whether that eBay 727 00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:31,000 Speaker 1: listing is too good to be true, or whether you're 728 00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:34,160 Speaker 1: Uber driver can be trusted, or things like this exactly. 729 00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:36,520 Speaker 1: And we don't really think of those star based ranking 730 00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:39,960 Speaker 1: systems and hundred character reviews as these like influencers of 731 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:42,879 Speaker 1: the economy, but but maybe we should. So, so why 732 00:37:42,920 --> 00:37:46,440 Speaker 1: would you say that? Well, Tim describes seller feedback as 733 00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:50,800 Speaker 1: this necessary component of online platforms that offer what's called quote, 734 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:55,000 Speaker 1: collaborative consumption. You know, I've heard that term thrown around recently. 735 00:37:55,040 --> 00:37:56,520 Speaker 1: I feel like it's one of these, and there's a 736 00:37:56,520 --> 00:37:59,160 Speaker 1: bunch of these. I mean, it's like crowd based capitalism 737 00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:01,279 Speaker 1: and the sharing a economy. That's another big one I 738 00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:04,200 Speaker 1: feel like I hear over and over. I guess. I mean, 739 00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:06,960 Speaker 1: it feels like they're all just different ways of describing 740 00:38:07,040 --> 00:38:10,040 Speaker 1: stuff like Airbnb or Uber, right, I mean, that's that's 741 00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:12,239 Speaker 1: kind of what that is. Yeah, Like the services like 742 00:38:12,360 --> 00:38:15,799 Speaker 1: ride sharing, dog walking or doing some odd job around 743 00:38:15,840 --> 00:38:18,640 Speaker 1: the house, like anything that involves matching people who have 744 00:38:18,719 --> 00:38:21,680 Speaker 1: these coincidental wants. So, for example, like, so you need 745 00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:24,120 Speaker 1: to spend the next hour working on a business proposal 746 00:38:24,120 --> 00:38:26,200 Speaker 1: instead of walking your dog, and I want to make 747 00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:29,279 Speaker 1: some money during a spare hour. Like in a traditional marketplace, 748 00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:31,640 Speaker 1: like both of those wants would probably go unmet for 749 00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:34,720 Speaker 1: one reason or another. But with the Internet, of course, 750 00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:37,440 Speaker 1: and this is obvious, the instant access to a digital 751 00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:40,279 Speaker 1: marketplace that provides suddenly we can find each other and 752 00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:42,640 Speaker 1: you can finish your proposal and I can walk your 753 00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:46,600 Speaker 1: dog right right right, Yeah, I mean it actually kind 754 00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:49,799 Speaker 1: of feels like a whole new kind of commerce. Though, really, 755 00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:52,280 Speaker 1: if you think about it. Yeah, so, I think Tim 756 00:38:52,320 --> 00:38:54,600 Speaker 1: really sums it up nicely when he says this, and 757 00:38:54,640 --> 00:38:57,720 Speaker 1: this is a quote. Uh. This function of matching people 758 00:38:57,760 --> 00:39:01,080 Speaker 1: who have coincidental wants is among the most powerful ways 759 00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:06,440 Speaker 1: the Internet is reshaping the economy. Platforms such as Uber, Airbnb, eBay, 760 00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:10,239 Speaker 1: and task rabbit create real value. They tap into capacity 761 00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:12,799 Speaker 1: that would have gone to waste. A spare room, a 762 00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:16,360 Speaker 1: spare hour, a spare car seat. You know, think about 763 00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:19,000 Speaker 1: this though, it it makes sense. What you're saying makes sense, 764 00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:21,920 Speaker 1: but it kind of feels like the Internet is the 765 00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:24,600 Speaker 1: real economy shape or here. So how does this relate 766 00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:27,640 Speaker 1: to seller feedback? Yeah? So I actually wondered that too. 767 00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:30,400 Speaker 1: But it's all about trust, right Like. Without trust, you 768 00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:33,359 Speaker 1: can't have a legitimate marketplace, and and no one would 769 00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:35,239 Speaker 1: be able to choose to do business with each other 770 00:39:35,239 --> 00:39:38,880 Speaker 1: if we were all potential enemies. But that trust, like 771 00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:41,480 Speaker 1: the kind that traditional markets provide in the form of 772 00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:45,560 Speaker 1: well known brands or immovable store fronts or just personal relationships, 773 00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:49,120 Speaker 1: that's so much harder to come by online, or at 774 00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:51,600 Speaker 1: least it was before eBay, right like, and and eBay 775 00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:54,080 Speaker 1: really changed this. They introduced seller feedback to the world, 776 00:39:55,400 --> 00:39:58,400 Speaker 1: and once people had a system that gave them the 777 00:39:58,440 --> 00:40:01,240 Speaker 1: reason to trust each other on the Internet, they overcame 778 00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:04,160 Speaker 1: their natural caution and this new type of industry was 779 00:40:04,239 --> 00:40:07,160 Speaker 1: off to the races. I guess we're celebrating the twentieth 780 00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:09,680 Speaker 1: anniversary of seller feedback. I don't know why this isn't 781 00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:11,600 Speaker 1: being talked about more. Actually, I saw this fact the 782 00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:13,640 Speaker 1: other day. Do you know what the first item ever 783 00:40:13,719 --> 00:40:16,600 Speaker 1: sold on eBay was. I'm not like like a pezz dispenser. 784 00:40:16,880 --> 00:40:20,120 Speaker 1: I knew that, good guest, but it was actually a 785 00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:23,279 Speaker 1: broken laser pointer. Was that your next guest. It was 786 00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:25,600 Speaker 1: this guy Mark Frasier that he was. He decided to 787 00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:28,760 Speaker 1: take this fifteen dollar gamble or something like that because 788 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:32,120 Speaker 1: he was looking for one of these laser pointers for work. 789 00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:34,560 Speaker 1: He was giving presentations all the time, and he decided 790 00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:37,040 Speaker 1: to try to find one that was broken and fix 791 00:40:37,080 --> 00:40:39,200 Speaker 1: it himself so he could get a deal. And he did. 792 00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:42,399 Speaker 1: That's so crazy, Like, I don't think about laser pointers enough. 793 00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:44,880 Speaker 1: He really don't. I meant to tell you that I 794 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:46,480 Speaker 1: meant to have an intervention until you need to talk 795 00:40:46,520 --> 00:40:50,600 Speaker 1: about It's all about coincidental wants again, right right, and 796 00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:53,000 Speaker 1: it's it's a beautiful thing. But now it's time for 797 00:40:53,040 --> 00:40:56,200 Speaker 1: something truly stunning. Are you ready for this? Mango for 798 00:40:56,239 --> 00:41:08,920 Speaker 1: the part times fact off always all right, since we've 799 00:41:08,920 --> 00:41:12,200 Speaker 1: talked about some of the most influential inventions in modern times, 800 00:41:12,680 --> 00:41:14,520 Speaker 1: we agreed for the fact off, and I hope you're 801 00:41:14,520 --> 00:41:16,440 Speaker 1: still planning to do this, that we share some of 802 00:41:16,480 --> 00:41:19,799 Speaker 1: our favorite ridiculous inventions that you know, maybe they won't 803 00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:22,640 Speaker 1: revolutionize any industry, but we still kind of like to 804 00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:25,000 Speaker 1: own them for one reason or another. So I'm gonna 805 00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:27,760 Speaker 1: start and I want to talk about the mobile toilet 806 00:41:27,760 --> 00:41:31,880 Speaker 1: paper dispenser. Have you seen this? It's this old Japanese 807 00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:34,680 Speaker 1: invention of like headgear with the toilet paper roll over 808 00:41:34,719 --> 00:41:37,200 Speaker 1: your head and you just pull it down, like wait, 809 00:41:37,239 --> 00:41:39,719 Speaker 1: when you need to blow your nose. I want to 810 00:41:39,760 --> 00:41:42,959 Speaker 1: strap into my kids so badly. Wow, So you go ahead, 811 00:41:43,000 --> 00:41:44,440 Speaker 1: you if you've got this helmet on, I guess you 812 00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:48,320 Speaker 1: can go anywhere with that. Okay, what agrees anywhere? I guess. 813 00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:51,000 Speaker 1: I guess I can get behind that. All right, Well, 814 00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:53,240 Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with the dog Brella. I mean, honestly, 815 00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:55,040 Speaker 1: I may order one of these. So when I take 816 00:41:55,040 --> 00:41:57,839 Speaker 1: our dog out and it's raining, I try to hold 817 00:41:57,840 --> 00:42:00,120 Speaker 1: the umbrella over both of us, but usually that just 818 00:42:00,239 --> 00:42:02,640 Speaker 1: results in me getting wet, and there's no way to 819 00:42:02,680 --> 00:42:06,040 Speaker 1: do this effectively. And of course these like doggy ponchos 820 00:42:06,080 --> 00:42:08,279 Speaker 1: and things like that are kind of silly. So the 821 00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:10,800 Speaker 1: dog Brella has this rod that serves as a leash, 822 00:42:10,880 --> 00:42:12,880 Speaker 1: but with an umbrella on the end of it so 823 00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:15,839 Speaker 1: you can keep your pup dry. It's pretty smart. Yeah, 824 00:42:16,480 --> 00:42:19,279 Speaker 1: I mean, it's no sneezing on the go, No, that's right. 825 00:42:19,719 --> 00:42:21,799 Speaker 1: So so the next thing I want is like one 826 00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:24,920 Speaker 1: of these hand choppers, and and uh, you know, I 827 00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:27,920 Speaker 1: love chopping veggies, but I'm terrified of sharp knives. So 828 00:42:28,440 --> 00:42:30,719 Speaker 1: this is basically a zombie hand where you hold the 829 00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:33,120 Speaker 1: rubber fingers where your fingers should go on the edge 830 00:42:33,160 --> 00:42:35,320 Speaker 1: of a carrot or whatever, and then you chop away. 831 00:42:35,440 --> 00:42:39,520 Speaker 1: It's like outsourcing a hand, except you've got to use 832 00:42:39,560 --> 00:42:42,160 Speaker 1: your hand to make that work. That's still that's still 833 00:42:42,160 --> 00:42:44,560 Speaker 1: pretty interesting. Okay, all right, Well the next one I 834 00:42:44,640 --> 00:42:47,160 Speaker 1: was going to come up with was the chork, and 835 00:42:47,200 --> 00:42:50,400 Speaker 1: it's chopsticks at one end and a fork on the other, 836 00:42:50,480 --> 00:42:54,080 Speaker 1: which is just brilliant or maybe it's stupid. I don't know, 837 00:42:54,160 --> 00:42:56,000 Speaker 1: but I just like saying chork. So I'm going to 838 00:42:56,040 --> 00:42:59,000 Speaker 1: get one of these. So, speaking of stupid, I want 839 00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:01,840 Speaker 1: one of these hand buggers. It's a mold with the 840 00:43:01,880 --> 00:43:04,759 Speaker 1: press to make hamburger meat into hot dog shapes. And 841 00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:07,920 Speaker 1: it's called a ham dog Yeah, but you don't even 842 00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:11,040 Speaker 1: eat hot dogs, I know, or hamburgers, but it's called 843 00:43:11,080 --> 00:43:14,319 Speaker 1: a ham dogger. All right. Well, if you're willing to 844 00:43:14,360 --> 00:43:16,200 Speaker 1: buy a ham dogger, I'm gonna have to give you 845 00:43:16,239 --> 00:43:18,640 Speaker 1: this week's fact Off trophy. And I can't wait for 846 00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:21,800 Speaker 1: our next cookout. Thank you and thank you all for listening. 847 00:43:21,800 --> 00:43:37,719 Speaker 1: See you next time. Thanks again for listening. Part Time 848 00:43:37,719 --> 00:43:39,960 Speaker 1: Genius is a production of how stuff works and wouldn't 849 00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:42,720 Speaker 1: be possible without several brilliant people who do the important 850 00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:45,799 Speaker 1: things we couldn't even begin to understand. Christa McNeil does 851 00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:48,160 Speaker 1: the editing thing. Noel Brown made the theme song and 852 00:43:48,200 --> 00:43:51,000 Speaker 1: does the MIXI mixy sound thing. Jerry Rowland does the 853 00:43:51,040 --> 00:43:54,200 Speaker 1: exact producer thing. Gay Bluesier is our lead researcher, with 854 00:43:54,239 --> 00:43:57,359 Speaker 1: support from the Research Army including Austin Thompson, Nolan Brown 855 00:43:57,440 --> 00:43:59,520 Speaker 1: and Lucas Adams and Eve. Jeff Cook gets the show 856 00:43:59,520 --> 00:44:01,480 Speaker 1: to your ear. It's a good job, Eaves. If you 857 00:44:01,520 --> 00:44:03,400 Speaker 1: like what you heard, we hope you'll subscribe, And if 858 00:44:03,440 --> 00:44:05,319 Speaker 1: you really really like what you've heard, maybe you could 859 00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:07,239 Speaker 1: leave a good review for us. Do we do? We 860 00:44:07,280 --> 00:44:08,879 Speaker 1: forget Jason Jason who