Paperclip

Paperclip

The paperclip is a ubiquitous office supply with a somewhat convolutedĀ  history.

Originally made from brass or steel wire, paperclips these days are usually made from galvanised steel wire, which is resistant to rust. The design is simple yet ingenious, and they get used for more than just clipping papers, e.g. SIM card ejecting, lock picking, bong cleaning, bookmarking, etc. And some people even make art with them.

According to the Early Office Museum, a specialised online trove that focuses on the history and evolution of office life and business technology from the 19th and early 20th centuries, the first patent for a bent wire paper clip was awarded in the United States to Samuel B. Fay in 1867.Ā Fay received US patent 64,088 on 23 April 1867. Although functional and practical, Fay's design along with the 50 other designs patented prior to the turn of the century are not considered reminiscent of the modern paperclip design known today.

The most common type ofĀ wireĀ paper clip still in use, the Gem paper clip, was never patented, but it was most likely in production inĀ BritainĀ in the early 1870s by "The Gem Manufacturing Companyā€. In his 1994 book The Evolution of Useful Things, Duke University ProfessorĀ Henry J. Petroski refers to an 1883 article about "Gem Paper-Fasteners", praising them for being "better than ordinary pins" for "binding together papers on the same subject, a bundle of letters, or pages of a manuscriptā€.

The Gem-type paperclip has become a symbol of inventiveĀ design ā€“ although falsely ā€“ by its celebration as a Norwegian invention. Johan Vaaler patented his design in Germany in 1899. It featured a similar concept but was less functional and practical and, without the second bend in the wire, was more complicated to insert into the paper. His version was never manufactured and never marketed, because the superiorĀ GemĀ was already available.

Long after Vaaler's death his countrymen created a national myth based on the false assumption that the paperclip was invented by an unrecognised Norwegian genius. During World War II, the paperclip became a symbol of resistance in Norway, where people wore them to show opposition to Nazi occupation, symbolising unity and solidarity.

In 1989 a giant paperclip, almost 7Ā m (23Ā ft) high, was erected on the campus of a commercial college nearĀ OsloĀ in honour of Vaaler, 90 years after his invention was patented. But this monument shows a Gem-type clip, not the one patented by Vaaler. The celebration of the alleged Norwegian origin of the paper clip culminated in 1999 with a commemorative stamp, 100 years after Vaaler submitted his application for a German patent. [Ed: Get over it Norway!]

Paperclips might have suffered some brand damage when Microsoft decided to anthropomorphise them as ā€œClippy the Office Assistantā€ ā€¦ not to mention their starring role in the ā€œpaperclip maximiserā€,Ā  aĀ thought experimentĀ described by Swedish philosopherĀ Nick BostromĀ in 2003 that illustrates theĀ existential riskĀ that anĀ artificial general intelligenceĀ may pose to human beings were it to be successfully designed to pursue even seemingly harmless goals and the necessity of incorporatingĀ machine ethicsĀ intoĀ artificial intelligenceĀ design.

The scenario describes an advanced artificial intelligence tasked with manufacturingĀ paperclips. If such a machine were not programmed to value human life, given enough power over its environment, it would try to turn all matter in the universe, including human beings, into paperclips or machines that manufacture further paperclips. Dā€™oh!
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References

wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_clip
bbvaopenmind.com/en/technology/visionaries/great-little-inventions-the-paper-clip
wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrumental_convergence
scientificamerican.com/article/the-paper-clip

Images

1. Modern classic paperclip
2.Ā The paperclip patented by Johan Vaaler in 1899
3.Ā Johan VaalerĀ in 1887 as a student of theĀ Christiania University
4.Ā Gem Paper Clip Ad from 1893
5. The giant paper clip inĀ Sandvika, Norway. It shows the Gem, not the one patented by Vaaler.
6. Postage stamp issued in 1999 to commemorate Vaaler's paper clip. The depicted paper clip is not the one he invented.
7. Book:Ā The Evolution of Useful Things: How Everyday Artifacts-From Forks and Pins to Paper Clips and Zippers-Came to be as They are, Henry Petroski, 1994
8.Ā Each sword is made with needle nose pliers and two straightened paperclips. Credit: Grokostimpy on Deviantart.
9. Clippy theĀ Office Assistant, Microsoft Office, 1997ā€“2003
10. Nick Bostrom delivers a talk at TED in 2015
11. Paperclips maximised!

Ā 

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