Well, well, well. I have a really mind-opening story for you – as a way of testing your willingness to stretch your mental boundaries. Here we go...
A central premise of Slingshot is what I call the ‘innovation shortcut’. It states that innovation need not be outright invention of something completely new, but rather the new combination or application of already existing components. One example I often point to is that of the mobile phone – which Nokia popularized in the early 1990’s, but Motorola developed in 1973, almost two decades earlier.
But what if mobile phones in fact go back much further in history? What if they were around way back in ancient Mesopotamia 2,800 years ago? A recent archeological find in Austria seems to bolster this incredible claim. Look at the photo and read the short Esquire article to decide for yourself how plausible this outlandish idea is. And just to provoke your mental boundaries further, aliens may possibly be involved!
