Unintended Consequences: 5 Innovation Failures That Changed the World

From: http://philmckinney.com/archives/2013/10/unintended-consequences-5-innovation-failures-that-changed-the-world.html?utm_source=buffer&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=buffer6c461&utm_medium=twitter

PHILMCKINNEY | OCTOBER 28, 2013

ARTICLE

On some level, we are all afraid of failure.  It’s a natural instinct to want to succeed, to be proud of your work, and…well, to be able to brag about your accomplishments at class reunions.

The sad truth is, into each life must come a little failure.  Your project may tank in the 11th hour.  Your novel may stall in the second to last chapter. It’s harsh, but true.

Still, before you chuck your failed efforts into the dumpster and head off for consolatory ice cream, you may want to think about the unintended consequences your efforts might yield.

In fact, some of the greatest inventions in history were created completely by accident.  All were considered failures…except by the clever person who saw their potential and made a fortune repurposing that “mistake.”

Here are just a few examples of everyday items that might never had seen the light of day, if they had just stayed “failures.”

• Penicillin: When Alexander Fleming was looking for his wonder drug to cure diseases, he probably never thought it would look like mold.  Yes, had Dr. Fleming been a little more tidy and a little less innovative, he might have just cleaned the mold from a contaminated Petri dish he found.  Instead, he noticed it was dissolving all the bacteria around it and investigated further.  Voila!  Wonder drug.
• Pacemakers: Electrical engineer John Hopps was conducting research on hyperthermia when he discovered that if a heart stopped beating due to cooling, it could be started again by artificial stimulation.  This led to the invention of the pacemaker, and countless lives have been saved ever since.
• Microwaves: Percy Spencer of the Raytheon Company was conducting radar research with vaccuum tubes when he accidentally melted a candy bar in his pocket.  He put some popcorn in his experiment, and thus was born the microwave popcorn industry.
• Corn Flakes: What happened the last time you left a pot on the stove too long?  When John Kellogg and his brother Will left a pot of boiled grain on the stove for several days, the resulting mess became the launching point for their famous breakfast cereal.
• The Slinky: Naval engineer Richard Jones wasn’t trying to invent what is arguably the best toy ever (your opinion may vary – see Silly Putty).  He was working on tension springs designed to monitor power on naval battleships when one of them fell to the floor.  Killer Question from that moment: Is this fun or what?

The truth is, there is a very fine line between failure and inspiration.  When you have the ability to look at a situation from a different perspective, ask a different question, there is no telling what sort of amazing discoveries you might make!

For more on the role of killer questions and how they can help create breakthrough innovation, readBeyond The Obvious.

Beans means bonanza as oil frackers turn demand for guar into gold rush

The Times: "Just as America’s booming shale gas industry has helped to wean the country off an unhealthy dependence on imported Middle Eastern oil, a new national addiction is emerging — to the Indian guar gum on which the industry depends.

Soaring demand for guar from US oil companies — whose apparently insatiable appetite stems from its use in making the drilling fluids used in the process of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” for shale gas — triggered a 374 per cent surge in Indian exports between January 2011 and January 2012.

With 80 per cent of global production of guar — which means cow feed in Hindi — India has a near monopoly on the bean, a fact that has led to a bonanza for Indian farmers who witnessed a ninefold increase in prices during 2012. “The price increase has been just astronomical,” says Naveen Mathur, commodities analyst at Angel Broking in Mumbai.

For decades, apart from cow feed, powdered guar has been used as a thickener in toothpaste, pet food and ice cream, but global demand has mushroomed in recent years because oil companies such as Halliburton and Schlumberger have required huge quantities for use as a thickening agent in the fluid needed to squeeze shale gas out of rock formations deep underground.

Almost overnight, guar has become India’s biggest agricultural export, shipments of which were worth $4.9 billion between April and January 2012, roughly double the value of the country’s exports of basmati rice and cotton combined.

Like the Texan oil booms of the 19th century, the guar rush is having a similar effect on the desert state of Rajasthan, where most of it is grown and where some farmers have earned more in a single season than the previous ten put together.

Guar beans, which are milled and powdered to produce gum that is eight times more viscous than cornstarch, grows only in rare climatic conditions — arid areas watered by intermittent but heavy monsoon rains.

But the huge surge in prices and exports has prompted some to ask whether the boom can last.

As Indian farmers frantically plant new areas to meet demand, US oil scientists in Houston are desperately trying to come up with synthetic alternatives, such as carbon methyl cellulose, which could rival guar on both price as well as efficacy.

Others are trying to develop new strains of guar that can be grown in different climatic conditions.

So far, they have not managed to do so — and India’s guar boom looks set to continue.

via Beans means bonanza as oil frackers turn demand for guar into gold rush | The Times.

Related articles

• 2013 Guar Gum Report Finds New Signs of Supply Chain Disruption, Raises New Questions (virtual-strategy.com)
• Developing guar gum alternatives (greenchemicalsblog.com)

Edward Tenner: Unintended consequences

From Edward Tenner, via TED.com - http://www.ted.com/talks/edward_tenner_unintended_consequences.html

Every new invention changes the world -- in ways both intentional and unexpected. Historian Edward Tenner tells stories that illustrate the under-appreciated gap between our ability to innovate and our ability to foresee the consequences.

Edward Tenner is an independent writer, speaker, and editor analyzing the cultural aspects of technological change. Full bio »