How to Change the World: The History of Innovation

How to Change the World: The History of Innovation

If you want to change the world, you need to dissect the past to build a blueprint for tomorrow. Follow the epic journey through the history of invention, science and technology - told in chronological order. --- Long before the rise of Empires, before the invention of the written word and before humans ever tamed fire. Curiosity was shaping the fate of our species. This podcast breaks down the messy, complicated, often accidental ways humanity pushes forward—and shows you exactly how you can do the same. This isn’t surface-level history. Starting at the dawn of civilisation, we trace the thread of human innovation in the order it happened. Covering the stories of the world's greatest inventors and most powerful ideas. Each episode is a masterclass - with all the nerdy details and side-quests that matter across science, economics, psychology and more: From Maritime navigation to Interstellar exploration Hammurabi’s legal code to Algorithmic governance Da Vinci’s human dissection to Genome editing Studying the patterns of history and invention shows how every world-changing idea is but a conversation between what has been and what could be. Journey with us as we untangle the playbooks of the disruptors who change things here on earth and beyond. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes

May 19, 2025 2 mins

What is the best way to tackle the question "How to change the world"? Learn about our plan to dissect the history and future of innovation.


This show will dissect how the world really works and the impact of the biggest inventions that lead to a step change. We'll also tell the stories of the greatest innovators from history and understand their mental models, mindsets and habits.


In this promo, Host Sam Webster Harris expla...

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"The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it" - Alan Watts


This opening episode invites you on a journey, not just through time, but through perspective.

From fire-starting hominids to spacefaring technologists, we are going to trace the ripples of human imagination that turned tools into empires, and sparks into systems.


In this introduction episode:

  • Set the tone for the podcast
  • Explain what the show is an...
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May 20, 2025 68 mins

What lies at the core of human progress?


This episode sets the scene for all human innovation. For 3.5 million years, humans and our ancestors were stuck in the Stone Age.


We cover:

  • What were we busy with for 97% of our existence?
  • Why were we so slow at innovating?
  • How did we eventually overcome these fundamental forces?


From personal pressures to global forces, we trace the blocks on human development. The answers h...

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How to rank the impact of innovations on humanity and how much they really changed the world.


It's easy to tell that the invention of talking is more important than Velcro. But is Netflix more important than Baseball? Has TikTok changed the world as much as the Longbow?


History has opinions, so it's time for a scale that lets us rationally measure global impact.


NOTE - This episode expands on the Technological Richter Scal...

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