Thursday, May 31, 2018

“The law of unintended consequences is the only real law of history.”
– Niall Ferguson –

In 1861, Dr. Richard J. Gatling designed his namesake weapon with the intent to save lives stating “It occurred to me that if I could invent a machine – a gun – which could by its rapidity of fire, enable one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, that it would, to a large extent supersede the necessity of large armies, and consequently, exposure to battle and disease [would] be greatly diminished.” The thing about unintended consequences is that they’re, well… unintended. Try to remember that the next time you go off in hot pursuit of your latest, greatest idea.