We can take these ideas another step. In China, block letters for printing were around at least 100 years before moveable type was invented in Europe. It is perfectly conceivable that the printing press could have been successfully introduced in Europe 100 years prior to the middle 1400's. If this had been the case, we probably would have made 100 years faster economic and social progress because we would have had a 100 year head start.
Life in 1896 could have been much like 1996. A lot of people would have most likely been vaccinated for Polio, a disease which adversely affected the lives of thousands of people in the world. Magnetic resonance imagery could have detected serious health conditions for which there would have also been better treatment options. People could have been surfing the world wide web and e-mailing friends, family and conducting business. Doppler radar to detect severe weather and provide advanced warning information to people could have saved countless lives and dollars in property damage. People around the world could have been watching the 1896 Olympics on television.
Moreover, we would probably be enjoying some of the benefits of 2096 today. For example, based on current trends in costs, a personal computer which costs $1500 today should cost only 99 cents in 100 years and be much more powerful and efficient. In addition, the lead-time to design and produce a new product or service will shrink from 2-3 years now, to less than a day in 2395 if current trends continue. The benefits for people could be enormous.
Thinking about these things, we realize that life could have been a lot better for people 100 years ago and even better today if only something as simple as moveable type had been in Europe earlier. This becomes even more intriguing when we realize that human factors, not the lack of technology, caused the delay of the printing press.
While block letters for printing existed in China, there were also reasons why it did not catch on here or spread to the rest of the world. It was not an efficient solution for Asian languages since they contained too many complex characters. The English language, with 26 letters, is more highly suited to this method of printing. Also, the Chinese did not want the rest of the world to learn to read Chinese and kept their discovery a secret. Thus, the concept of moveable type was not implemented broadly in China and did not spread to Europe for 100 years either. The progress that eventually came with its introduction to Europe was delayed as well.
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