Invention and innovation: a brief history of hype and failure

Invention and innovation : a long history and modern infatuation

Inventions that turned from welcome to undesirable. Leaded gasoline ; DDT ; Chlorofluorocarbons

Inventions that were to dominate

and do not. Airships ; Nuclear fission ; Supersonic flight

Inventions that we keep waiting for. Travel in vacuum (hyperloop) ; Nitrogen-fixing cereals ; Nuclear fusion

Techno-optimism, exaggerations and realistic expectations. Breakthroughs that are not ; Myth of ever-faster innovations ; What we need most.