this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2025
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I can't remember where I heard this quote but somebody was one saying that the television wasn't invented because somebody wanted a television, it was invented because thousands of scientists over decades worked on ancillary technologies that culminated in the television.
The most recent major invention in jet engines came from the 3D printer industry. I don't think anybody who was working on 3D printers was really necessarily thinking that this could be applied to jet engines, it's just how it turned out.
Most of the mathematics behind modern computer graphics were come up with in the 18th century. The equations were just an interesting mathematical oddity for centuries until the technology caught up with the theory. Obviously the mathematician wasn't trying to optimize rendering pipelines for a technology that wouldn't exist for over 200 years.
Technological innovation is like evolution, there isn't necessarily a target objective, things just evolve over time. You don't just throw a lot of people at a problem and expect a solution, academics understand that which is why they do research. Research is not necessarily in aid of anything in particular, it's just more knowledge to the toolbox of humanity, amd who knows how that knowledge might subsequently be applied.