When I think about technologies, I think about ingenuity, creativity, and invention. I try to understand the minds of the humans who made them and the consequences of their creations. These little stone blades that I keep on my desk are forms of technology from 12,000 years ago.

I found my first one in the Chihuahuan Desert in New Mexico, where I lived as a teenager. Over the years, I’ve acquired a collection of these stone tools, some as gifts from friends. Although there’s an aspect of the unknown to them, I believe you can detect some element of the person who made them in the differences between each one.

That’s why I find them so fascinating. Despite their apparent simplicity, to their maker they were as wondrous, useful, and consequential as technological innovations are for us today. If we look at them through the minds of their inventors, these implements open up a world of history and creative energy that can inspire contemporary inventors, creatives, and designers.

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