--- description: Modern invention is often conveyed as a march toward progress, led by diligent workers trying to make the world a better place. But in his... title: Triviality Is the Mother of Invention image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Triviality Is the Mother of Invention by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 3, 2016 10:46 AM CUT by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 3, 2016 10:46 AM CUT Modern invention is often conveyed as a march toward progress, led by diligent workers trying to make the world a better place. But in his new book, _Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World_, Steven Johnson argues that many of society’s greatest advancements started as jokes and games. Consider the mechanical flutes and peacock-shaped soap dispensers that scholars say were popular in the Middle Ages; the gadgets were trivial, but the mechanical processes invented to power them would later be used to make robots, steam engines and more. Similarly, the technology behind automatons like dancing dolls, popular around the turn of the 19th century, inspired Charles Babbage to invent the Analytical Engine, widely considered to be the first programmable computer. Looking for a glimpse of the future today? More often than not, Johnson concludes, you will find it “wherever people are having the most fun.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4556060/triviality-is-the-mother-of-invention/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4556060/triviality-is-the-mother-of-invention/"},"headline":"Triviality Is the Mother of Invention","datePublished":"2016-11-03T10:46:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:35:44.710Z","description":"Modern invention is often conveyed as a march toward progress, led by diligent workers trying to make the world a better place. But in his...","url":"https://time.com/4556060/triviality-is-the-mother-of-invention/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4556060/triviality-is-the-mother-of-invention/","name":"Triviality Is the Mother of Invention"}}]}] ```