The greatest invention ever?

The German Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing presses around 1440 and the graphic below and found here shows the “viral” spread of printing presses across Europe over a (relatively) short period of time.

“Historians argue that the printing press was among the most revolutionary inventions in human history, responsible for a diffusion of knowledge and ideas, “dwarfing in scale anything which had occurred since the invention of writing.””

We are presently finding out the power of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook and the influence they’ve had in bringing about regime change in paces like Tunisia and Egypt as tech savvy demonstrators are spreading news of the protests virally via their mobiles and laptops. It is truly amazing how having access to readily available information can radically progress society. How to use that information and process it effectively without succumbing to information overload is another matter but still what’s happening in North Africa and the Middle East could not have happened without Johannes Gutenberg’s invention all those years ago.