Examples of Gold and Silver

Invention and Innovation + Research and Development

I’m gonna do a Quick Comms of Gold and Silver in the future, but for now I want to theory craft a bit so there are some additional tangents already established to describe the lofty concept fully and not all concentrate it in a single post.

So, for this post I’m strictly going to focus on the part of Gold and Silver that’s synonymous with the nature of Invention and Innovation.

Webster’s 1828 defines Invention as “the action or operation of finding out something new; the contrivance of that which did not before exist.”

Innovation, then, is “change made by the introduction of something new; change in established laws, customs, rites or practices.”

Those, I believe, are serviceable definitions for the terms.

Basically, invention is the coming up of something new, or novel, that the Universe has not yet known. Innovation is a reinterpretation of that theme to enhance, customize, or otherwise tailor an invention towards a more specialized task. Basically, adding new to the new.

For example, a hammer would be the invention, while variations of hammers would be innovations. '

This is why there are so many idiomatic interpretations of some novel idea being described as “golden” or “the gold standard.”

The gold standard is the ideal and peak example of the novel invention. It’s the one that comes to mind when you’re asked to visualize the subject in your mind’s eye. If I told you to think of a sword, for instance, you have in your mind an ideal interpretation of a sword — a perfect version that fits your sensibilities.

Within the category of sword, however, rest different variations of swords, like falchions, khopesh, sabers, rapiers, longswords, bastard swords, epees, katanas, machetes, etc. Each variation is like silver to the golden standard. Silver is still valuable, but it tarnishes where gold does not. For that reason, you may say that a katana, being excessively sharp with a hollow grind and a single edge, sacrifices some durability to exceed a standard longsword’s typical sharpness. The creator accepts some degree of flaw in order to emphasize a particular strength. Rapiers for instance give up almost completely on a razor edge and opt for a more proficient tool intended for thrusting.

There’s different spectrums which describe properties which one can adjust to arrive at different variations of a them, like in music. It’s the same melody, but played at a lower octave, or on a minor scale. Perhaps the tempo is adjusted or played on a different instrument.

All variations of the theme are technically swords, which bear similar characteristics much like how a hammer is nothing more than a weight on a stick. Except, each carry with them some speciality or defining quirk over the standard definition of a “sword” such that it needs a new name based on that distinction. A sword is defined generally as a weapon which sports a blade longer than the hilt. A sword’s purpose is to thrust and cut, but mostly cut. The variation which most adequately performs these functions is the standard longsword, which is why any search for “sword” often returns this:

It does just about everything you can hope to do with a sword, leaving you wanting for nothing.

This is gold. This is a novel and fully fleshed out form of the “sword” platform. Much like how there are also variations of themes on a gun like the AR-15. It is a platform from which one can jump, or leap, into specializing the base model. The names of the parts are universal, usually, and can be used to relay to another any particular sub-function of the cohesive whole.

Basically, until the “sword” idea popped into the mind of Man, these terms had no meaning. These words and their functions had no purpose either in nature or in the doings of Man. Something like a “pommel” is simply not seen or understood by anything in nature. It is a completely novel idea birthed in the mind of Man to describe parts of a sword. You cannot innovate if the parts don’t yet have names, as there is nothing yet to emphasize or develop.

Until the first inventor of the “sword” envisioned in his head a tool, a weapon, that had a blade longer than the handle, the Universe knew of no such thing. Some parts were there, sure, like how fangs can thrust, edged rocks can cut, and branches can swing, but when he finally made his first, crude, prototype bringing all three together it signaled the birth of a new age. An age of swords. An age of development of swords. Within that new age, new words we also born, describing the anatomy of the child that man birthed into the world, wholecloth.

This is the fulfillment of Gold, with a capital G. Something novel; something new. Something that the Universe inwardly looks at and says “Hmm… That’s new…”

A sparkle in the eye of any who look upon the creation and see something greater than the sum of its parts.

Something that’s “worth its weight in gold” or said to be greater than the sum of its parts. A tool, or weapon, which has been created to serve a very particular function beyond the faculties of the human body. Something whose value is based more on what you can do with it rather than what it plainly is; something you can practice with and explore; something you can learn lessons from; something whose operation suggests a new artform.

A sword in the hand of a novice is nothing but a plank of sharp metal. In the hands of a master swordsman, however, it has the ability to cleave another man in two with a fine stroke.

An entire world of possibilities are now birthed into the world, a realm which one can practice and gain proficiency in, like learning the piano. The piano is gold, an invention like no other, but is only worth something to those who know how to play it.

Research and Development

Of course, not every idea we call a “gold standard” just pops into being overnight. A process of refinement has to be undertaken to take an idea and progress it to its final form. Just like smelting gold ore into a final bullion ingot.

This stage is like a pregnancy, where an original idea grows in the workshop, the womb of the mind of Man. First the idea is conceived, then it is stitched together in its most infantile forms, then refined, until it is ready to endure the labor pangs; the trial and error. All this is the research phase.

Once the working model is completed, however, next comes development. More trial and error, and a hint of aesthetic touches, which take it beyond just a serviceable model. Learning takes place, lessons are learned, and alterations are made to expand upon those lessons and correct any flaws that arise in the development process.

This, too, is why gold and silver are also frequently associated with Man and Woman respectively. Man conceives the idea, researches and invents, while a woman develops the child once it achieves its function, testing it and rearing it. Nursing it at the breast. Together they form the basis of a nuclear family unit, whose purpose is to Generate new life, new ideas, and new progeny to go forth into the world and do the same.

A cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. Just like how an invention is born, people innovate upon it, and then it excels human technological advancement to such a point that eventually it becomes obsolete. In other words, a wooden club helps make a stone hammer. A stone hammer forges a metal hammer. A metal hammer builds a factory that makes jackhammers, nail guns, and all other such wonderful things that exceed the capabilities of the original model. Upwards and onwards, one invention being innovated upon until a newer invention takes its place, thanks to its predecessor’s hard work, forming a legacy and family tree of advancement.

All in tempo with the passage of time; cycles of day and night, seasons, years, eras, and history as a whole.

The Sun is associated with gold because it gives light to things and grants vision to the working man, to assist in his labors. It inspires by granting Man with vision. The Moon, when the Man is resting, takes some of the Sun’s light, often appearing like a “rib” of light in the sky, and uses it to comfort and grow the Man as he rests. The Sun acts as the father, whose presence demands work from the child while the Moon acts as the mother whose presence permits rest and a reflection, a reflection of the light, the lessons and truth, that the father bestowed during the day.

Research and Development.

Work and Reflection.

Awake and Dreaming.

Consciousness and Subconsciousness.

Light and Dark.

A time for both, necessary for a child to grow; for a soul to become enlightened.

Research, Inspiration, Conception, Gestation, Birth, Development, and Standardization.

For Inventions and their Innovations to help Mankind arrive at something greater than the sum of its parts.

That’s the relationship of Gold and Silver to the doings of Humanity.