I just finished reading The Wizard of Menlo Park, a biography about the life of America’s greatest inventor, Thomas Edison. The key takeaway for me, other than the fact that Edison was a horrible businessman and worse family man who squandered countless opportunities is that there is value, tremendous value, in having a physical presence in the world. A place to show your fiercest critics and most ardent supporters that you are to be taken seriously, that there really is a method to your madness.
Edison had such a place. And more than once. His famed laboratories in Menlo Park and later in West Orange were revered by the Wizard and frequented often by fans and foes alike. These laboratories weren’t just mere storehouses for lab equipment. They were where the magic happened. Where flashes of ingenuity suddenly popped into existence. Where great ideas sprang to life. Where a legend was born.
It’s with that in mind that I would like to create a modern day Idea Laboratory. There’s just one problem. I’m no Edison. I’ve never invented anything and probably never will. If I were to create an Idea Laboratory it would have to be as an homage to Edison, as a glorified museum. After all, there’s no way I could actually put it to real use. Or could I? What if this Idea Laboratory wasn’t a place for me to invent things. But, rather, a place where anyone could invent things? A place that curious people could visit to catch a glimpse of the future. A place to serve as a shining beacon of light in the intellectual darkness that we currently find ourselves in. A place to offer hope.
What I’m imagining then is a hybrid co-working space/think tank/tech incubator/innovation laboratory that gives access to tools (3-D printers, genome sequences, supercomputers, etc.) to anyone that wants them while also creating a platform for establish scientists to publish their findings and bounce ideas off other like minded individuals. Research would be conducted. Patents filed. Companies launched. Wealth created. Wisdom passed on.
Similar to the Long Now Foundation it would apply long-term thinking to tackle long-term challenges. Similar to Google [X], Singularity University, the Gates Foundation, and the X Prize it would encourage exponential thinking and aim to conquer moonshots. It would do it all. Anything and everything related to innovation, ingenuity, and inventiveness. Host lectures, sponsor competitions, seed startups, solve complex problems. You name it.
Just take the COVID-19 global pandemic for instance. Since it started people have been clamoring for the creation of a Manhattan Project level team of top scientists to band together or for the creation of an elite global body to advise on global catastrophes. Even Bill Nye the Science Guy wants to get in on the action and do his part to save the world.
But if the Idea Laboratory existed you wouldn’t need to do any of that. You would already know where to turn. Already have all of the world’s leading experts in one place with access to unparalleled resources and infinite financial backing. It would be everything that Thomas Edison always wanted for his laboratory. Access to every material he could possibly ever need. And the freedom to pursue his own agenda and not be beholden to shareholders or business partners.
The Idea Laboratory would be all that. And much more. It would be anything that we wanted it to be. Anything that we needed it to be. A symbol of hope. A beacon of light. The standard bearer for what innovation was, is, and could be. In the end it would be our greatest invention of all.
Is an Idea Laboratory the Greatest Idea Ever?
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