# Flying Machines Completed a Two-Million-Year Resource Network by Richard Potts > “Flying machines have meant a global altering of how societies approach food and other resources, tying humanity together in a worldwide economy (resource exchange) driven by our interdependence. Two million years ago, the movement of resources (like food and stone tools) had become a development with extraordinary implications for human evolution. But even 2 thousand years ago, no one could have foreseen just how far this process of resource exchange has gone today — largely due to flying machines.” > **— Richard Potts**, *1999, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT INVENTION IN THE PAST TWO THOUSAND YEARS?”* ## Sources and Context - **Direct Edge response and surrounding essay:** [Edge response](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/11491) — Edge published this passage in its 1999 Annual Question collection, *WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT INVENTION IN THE PAST TWO THOUSAND YEARS?*. - **Exact archived wording:** “Finally, flying machines have meant a global altering of how societies approach food and other resources, tying humanity together in a worldwide economy (resource exchange) driven by our interdependence. Two million years ago, the movement of resources (like food and stone tools) had become a development with extraordinary implications for human evolution. But even 2 thousand years ago, no one could have foreseen just how far this process of resource exchange has gone today — largely due to flying machines.” - **Complete local collection index:** [[research/Edge 1999 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 1999 Full Quotation Curation]] — retained source-first record for the response cohort and this passage's promotion status. - **Editorial treatment:** The readable Reminder selects a self-contained portion of the archived passage and, where necessary, applies light punctuation or transcription repair. It does not add a consequence or increase the speaker's certainty; the complete exact archived wording is preserved above. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Greatest Transformation in Human History|The Greatest Transformation in Human History]] - **Article:** [[articles/The New Dictionary of the Machine Regime|The New Dictionary of the Machine Regime]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Human Evolution|Human Evolution]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Human Evolution|Human Evolution]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “Flying machines have meant a global altering of how societies approach food and other resources, tying humanity together in a worldwide economy (resource exchange) driven by our interdependence. Two million years ago, the movement of resources (like food and stone tools) had become a development with extraordinary implications for human evolution. But even 2 thousand years ago, no one could have foreseen just how far this process of resource exchange has gone today — largely due to flying machines.” — Richard Potts, 1999, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT INVENTION IN THE PAST TWO THOUSAND YEARS?” https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-richard-potts-flying-machines-resource-network ```