Anyone who reads this blog knows that I read - a lot. I read books of all kinds, magazines, newspapers... pretty much anything I can get my hands on, as I love learning about things I know nothing about. As a result, I often stumble upon articles that have some kind of reference to photography, whether overt or implied. I find connections to photography and creativity in most things I read. The November 2013 issue of The Atlantic magazine contains an article titled "The 50 Greatest Breakthroughs Since the Wheel" which came from the opinions of a panel of 12 scientists, entrepreneurs, engineers, and historians of technology. Ranked at #29 was the invention of photography, which they consider to be among the "Innovations that expand human intellect and its creative, expressive, and even moral possibilities". Ranked at #5 was the invention in the early 13th century of optical lenses, without which photography as we know it would not exist. This was considered to be an innovation that extends life.
Because I'm a photographer, of course I would have included both of these items in my own personal list of 50 greatest breakthroughs. But it's great to see that others outside of the field consider it to be that important, too.