Technology is one of the most important influences that shape our lives, culture, and society. Questions such as how technologies form, and why technology develops in a particular way are left unanswered?
This book examines technology as a system, similar to an economic or ecological system. It uses a profound connection between language and technology to find patterns in technology that follow the rules of a formal grammar. The vocabulary of this language is functions, a concept that links applications to the technologies that fill them. It is this link that enables the invention process. The essence of invention is to use a functional representation, and to manipulate it according to grammatical rules.
This book works step by step to identify these functions and construct a grammar for technology. In the process, a number of insights into the nature of technology and invention emerge. The products of this exploration are new ways to invent including a process for automated invention.