Innovation Richter Scale: How Much Do Technology and Ideas Change World History?

How to rank the impact of innovations on humanity and how much they really changed the world.Everything seems so important these days:A new iPhone update changes EVERYTHINGThis war will BREAK the economyIf you feed your toddler THIS, you don't deserve to be a parent...Learn to rationally understand what matters to humanity and what is just noise.It's easy to tell that the invention of Writing itself is more important than Velcro. But...Is Netflix more important than Baseball?Has TikTok changed the world as much as the Longbow?Was Steve Jobs more impactful than Henry VIII?History has opinions.So it's time to build a scale that lets us rationally measure global impact.Introducing the Innovation Richter Scale - a 1 to 10 rating system that lets you rank absolutely anything you can think of.NOTE - This episode expands on the Technological Richter Scale proposed by Nate Silver. (see references)ABOUTHow to Change the World is an independent podcast on a mission.It is written, edited, and recorded entirely by Sam Webster Harris. (He also makes the music)Designs were crafted by Francisca Correia.ReferencesNate Silver - One The Edge (2024)Nate's book is about risk analysis and the future of AI. The final chapter proposes a Technological Richter Scale, with a page on how to use it.Zvi Mowshowitz - AI and the Technological Richter Scale (2025)A good summary of Nate's ideas, on how the scale applies to AI. Also quotes Nate's page guide for each level and argues a few changes.Grant Lichtman - Innovation: Are We Overlooking "Magnitude" With "Frequency" (2013)A short blog that suggests it might be nice to use a logarithmic Richter scale or a Madonna curve to measure innovation.Chapters:00:00 Innovation Richeter Scale01:47 Why create a Scale?03:47 Earthquake Metaphor06:16 Invention, Innovation, Technology06:56 Ranking Magnitude not Morality08:08 The Innovation Richter Scale - Level 1 - 1008:11 Level 1 - Shower thoughts08:29 Level 2 - Actioned Idea (In private)08:49 Level 3 - Public ideas (Not popular)10:17 Level 4 - Popular and commercial ideas11:08 Level 5 - Defining Brand12:38 Level 6 - Innovation of the year15:59 Level 7 - Innovation of the Decade18:19 Level 8 - Innovation of the Century21:29 Level 9 - Innovation of the Era23:53 Level 10 - Species Epoch28:31 Part 2 - Using the scale29:45 Weapons & Tools of Death - Brands, Categories and Concepts33:58 Politics & Population Impact - Local, Continental and Global38:00 Questions without answers38:38 Sports & Religion - Emotional Impact and Purpose41:01 Peter Thiel and Chess41:47 Religion and Personal Beliefs in interpreting the scale43:33 Roundup conclusions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.