The Overlooked Roots of Innovations

Imagination is an often-overlooked integral element of human progress, in general, and innovations, in particular. In this chapter, it is argued that the examination of the diffusion and evolution of imaginations and their manifestation as innovations can help to understand the imaginative roots of innovations and to create a responsibly chosen path into a sustainable future. Science fiction as a specific area of manifested imagination is used to show how manifested imaginations influence the social imagination in general and certain individuals like scientists and innovators in particular. It is even used to sell ideas (or make them stick) and give them heritage, again influencing the social imagination. And the accelerated fusion, development, and progress of technologies in the wake of the digitalization is enabling fast and vast diffusion and distribution of imaginations, creating a need to explore, understand, and responsibly utilize imaginations.