Solutions Looking for a Problem

Americans are great at building toys (tools). Some of those toys (tools) change the world. Engineers very often develop tools (toys) just for the pleasure of developing tools (toys). While all this tinkering certainly keeps idle engineers off the street, their often wild creations bring us ultimately more knowledge and often induce nature to give up its secrets.

Tools lead to unexpected discoveries, which in turn lead to other unexpected discoveries, most often without ever working as originally intended. It is the engineer's pure passion for creating some new tool or toy that contributes to the augmentation of our knowledge. Knowledge generally does not progress from tools designed to verify or support theories, but rather the opposite.

Computers were not built to allow us to speed up mathematical computations nor to create fantastic visual media; they weren't invented so that you could chat with your friends on the other side of the world nor to have access to endless research and information. None of these did its military designer have in mind.

The laser was not created with any particular application in mind. Its creator Charles Townes was just playing around with splitting light beams, nothing more. In fact, Townes' colleagues teased him quite a bit about the irrelevance of his discovery. It was all just fun stuff. Yet, it was another one of those "solutions looking for a problem". Consider its many uses today - compact discs, eyesight correction, microsurgery, data storage and retrieval - all unforeseen applications that gained relevance over time.