Friday, November 23, 2012

Kasparov and Thiel - on technological progress

Garry Kasparov and Peter Thiel discussed technological progress in a recent FT editorial which is very thought provoking. What is progress and have we moved forward or was the IT boom and dotcom boom of the last twenty years just an illusion? Compare this with the Green Revolution in agriculture, jet travel, or the advances in medicine in the 1950's. We have had technological acceloration but is that the same as innovation? Are we actually caught in a period of stagnation where some of the best theses on growth is to limit it? 

This is not the first time that innovation has been questioned. I am thinking of the "small is beautiful" period. We have to access technological progress and determine whether we are going in the right direction, or more importantly, do we have any direction at all. 

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