Introduction In 1947, a slim volume written by a largely unknown General Motors corporate executive was issued by a small publishing house under the title of Mainspring of Human Progress. The book began with an intriguing chapter entitled "Puzzling Questions of Vital Concern to 2,155,000,000 Individuals," led off with this curious paragraph: For 60 known centuries, this planet that we call Earth has been inhabited by human beings not much different from ourselves. Their desi...