Making things better
There are plenty of problems you could solve. Your job is to choose a couple of important ones and bring energy and intelligence to bear… Read More »Making things better
technology
The parent of prosperity
Innovation is the child of freedom and the parent of prosperity. Matt Ridley – How Innovation Works I finished this in audiobook form today. Highly… Read More »The parent of prosperity
Matt Ridley on the Wright Brothers: innovation is gradual
… with very few exceptions, man-made technologies evolve from previous man-made technologies and are not invented from scratch. This is a key characteristic with evolutionary… Read More »Matt Ridley on the Wright Brothers: innovation is gradual
Autocatalysing innovations
Autocatalysing innovations are innovations whose outputs lead to a virtuous cycle of further adoption and innovation. Steam engines The earliest steam engines were used to… Read More »Autocatalysing innovations
Innovation as network phenomenon: Matt Ridley on who invented the motor car
So who invented the motor car running on an internal combustion engine? Like the steam engine – and as I will show later, the computer… Read More »Innovation as network phenomenon: Matt Ridley on who invented the motor car
Contribution
Skimming a book of biographies of mathematicians I see few originators but many contributors: “She advanced the study of…” “He made many invaluable contributions…” “He… Read More »Contribution
Virginia Postrel on textiles and technology, nature and magic
Here’s a great highlight from a fascinating and very entertaining podcast from a16z: Textiles as Tech, Science, Math, Culture… or Civilization. Recommended. Sonal Chokshi: “We… Read More »Virginia Postrel on textiles and technology, nature and magic
The Atlantic on trust and on the remote working revolution
These two articles from The Atlantic are worth reading. On Social Trust The first is about politics in the broadest sense of “how we live… Read More »The Atlantic on trust and on the remote working revolution
Your team of AIs
Kevin Kelly’s writing about AI, and specifically types of AI (rather than the monolithic general-intelligence-that’s-smarter-than-we-are-and-gets-rapidly-smarter-still that we worry about) has got me thinking about my… Read More »Your team of AIs
Thucydides on the prosperity that comes with peace
This is Thucydides writing in 432 BC. Apart from the general description of how stability affects the accumulation of wealth he also gives what is… Read More »Thucydides on the prosperity that comes with peace