Why innovation matters
The always-thoughtful Adam Thierer launches a new monthly column in defence of innovation. Self-recommending.
Perhaps the most astonishing criticism of innovation today is that it has given us too much: too much leisure, affluence, materialism, entertainment. While critics regularly sneer at the supposed “cult of convenience” and lament the supposed “paradox of choice”—as in too much choice—we should appreciate that these are very good problems to have! Imagine traveling back in time and complaining to our ancestors—who’d be toiling in forests, fields or factories—that the future will offer us too much convenience or choice. They’d likely smack us for being so spoiled.
It’s published by the online magazine Discourse, which has lots of other writers worth reading.
The always-thoughtful Adam Thierer launches a new monthly column in defence of innovation. Self-recommending.
Perhaps the most astonishing criticism of innovation today is that it has given us too much: too much leisure, affluence, materialism, entertainment. While critics regularly sneer at the supposed “cult of convenience” and lament the supposed “paradox of choice”—as in too much choice—we should appreciate that these are very good problems to have! Imagine traveling back in time and complaining to our ancestors—who’d be toiling in forests, fields or factories—that the future will offer us too much convenience or choice. They’d likely smack us for being so spoiled.
It’s published by the online magazine Discourse, which has lots of other writers worth reading.