At the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Greece, sit three seemingly unremarkable bronze parts, covered in a greenish patina. Together with missing pieces, they represent one of the most complex and sophisticated examples of ancient engineering known to man. This 2,000-year-old marvel is believed to have had 30 interlocking gearwheels, with epicyclical gearing, a crankshaft, and rotating hands. Named for the Greek island near which it was discovered inside the wreckage of a ship, the Antikythera mechanism is considered the world’s first ‘computer’. Built to calculate and display information about astronomical phenomena, the technologies used in it were unique for its time, the likes of which were not seen again for a millennium.
From the invention of the arrowhead, to the bicycle, the printing press, and the digital computer, the primary goal for technology has always been to simplify and automate complicated or onerous tasks for humans, so that the resulting efficiencies could be applied elsewhere — towards innovation, and the achievement of loftier goals. Today, when we develop breakthrough technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate mundane cognitive tasks, we accelerate progress by enabling the application of human effort and ingenuity towards finding innovative solutions to even bigger unsolved problems. Meanwhile, these innovative solutions lead to the next phase of automation. Automation and Innovation are intertwined like the facets of a Mobius strip, locked into a continuous virtuous cycle of progress.
If Innovation is the engine that powers the vehicle of progress, and Automation the fuel that feeds it, then Education is the context that surrounds them — the routes, the maps, the vistas, the pitfalls, and the destinations. By sharing our knowledge and experiences with the rest of the world, and with future generations, we help to scale and sustain the virtuous cycle. Taken together, Automation, Innovation and Education form the basis of all hope, all progress, and of ultimate transcendence from human suffering.
The amazing Antikythera mechanism is for us more than an interesting historical artifact. It is a timeless beacon from our ancestors, and a testament to the human spirit of invention, ambition, and dedication to relentless progress. Within it, we witness the synergy between Automation, Innovation and Education — the pillars of our strategy, and our guiding themes for this year’s Annual Report.
