The New Year has arrived and as most people look to the future, some are looking to the past. This latest infographic by Norwich University takes a look at man and what he has developed for the past million or so years.
From discovering fire to developing tools, from developing mathematics to revolutionizing science, man has done it all – and the journey certainly has not come to an end. A majority of man’s achievements have been accomplished without government subsidies, taxes, regulations and overall intervention.
A bureaucrat didn’t direct Isaac Newton to formulate the laws of motion and universal gravitations. A politician didn’t order Nicolaus Copernicus to conclude we live in a Heliocentric universe. A government agent didn’t allow men of the late 19th and early 20th century to be inventive and innovative when it came to developing machine-based manufacturing.
Indeed, man has embarked upon remarkable endeavors that have changed the course of history forever. All of this can be contributed to men who were left alone to seek out new opportunities. Government creates nothing, while man creates everything.
2014 shall be another year for the history books. What will man create this year?
You miss an important point. All human achievements have been a result of the interaction of individuals and society, and all technological societies have had governments. Whilst governments and states have caused horrendous problems and suffering, they have played a key role in human progress, measured in terms of human labor productivity and innovation.