Brittanica "Great Inventions" list – Democracy fosters innovation

Warren D. Smith August 2007

This is a list of 322 "Great Inventions" compiled by the 2003 Encyclopædia Britannica Almanac. Our contribution was to color each invention red if it happened in 1800 or later in (what was at the time) a non-democracy. Of these, only 60 occurred before 1800, the rest, (262) after. [You can also see the next section about an independently compiled list of 100 inventions.]

Of the 262 great inventions after 1800, all but 30, i.e. 88.5%, occurred in ostensible democracies, despite the fact that a majority of the world's population during this period lived in non-democracies. It appears that important inventions occur about 10× faster in democracies.

An independent compilation

I also found the book Inventing the 20th century, 100 inventions that shaped the world by Stephen Van Dulken (NYU Press 2000). It discusses 100 inventions. According to Dulken, all were invented in the USA, UK, and Canada except for these 17:

1. Synchonized machine gun to fire from propellor aircraft (F.Schneider, Germany 1913)
2. Military tank (G.Burstyn, Austria 1912)
3. "Theremin" first electronic musical instrument (L.S.Termen, Soviet Union 1924)
4. Ballpoint pen (L.J.Biro, Argentina 1943) [Fraudulent pseudo-democracy toppled by 1943 military coup]
5. "Lego" toy bricks (G.Christiansen, Denmark 1958)
6. 3-point seat belt for cars (N.I.Bohlin, Sweden 1958)
7. Velcro hook & loop fastener system (G.de Mestral, Switzerland 1951)
8. The pill (3 inventors, one in USA other two in Mexico 1951) [Mexico at time was under One-party rule]
9. Wankel rotary engine (F.Wankel, W.Germany 1958)
10. "Personal stereo" (A.Pavel, Italy 1977)
11. "Smart card" (R.Moreno, France 1974)
12. "Rubik cube" (E.Rubik, Hungary 1975. Larry Nichols in the USA had patented a similar cube but held together by magnets, not a mechanism, in 1972, and later won a patent infringement suit.)
13. Antitheft steering wheel lock for cars (M.Tamir, Israel 1985) [Apartheid state]
14. Water desalinator (S.Gibelius, Sweden 1984)
15. Modern wind turbine (M.Abe, Japan 1980)
16. Cellular phone (J.Tattari, Finland 1989)
17. "Predator" soccer boot (C.Johnston, Australia 1991)

And of these 17, only the 5-and-one-sixth with red font were invented in countries considered at the time to be undemocratic. One can quibble over the precise meaning of "democratic," but anyhow, according to this reckoning, 94.8% of the best inventions of the 20th century were invented in democracies despite less than 50% of the world's population living in them. Again, this is compatible with over 10× greater invention rate in democracies.

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