Been meaning to make this recommendation for some time, & as with "Range," I am several months late. I really, really loved "How Innovation Works" from @mattwridley It is a very elegant follow up to "The Rational Optimist" - read both if you can. (more) amazon.com/How-Innovation…
One of the most amazing things about both books is Matt's ability to connect the dots across very long time horizons. Very few can. He also has the ability to combine thinking from many fields - most notably science, technology, psychology, & a heavy dose of microeconomics.
Relative to our world in Silicon Valley, Matt shows how "what we do" is not new, but a very old (and critically important) process. He refers to idea generation as "invention," & notes that successful "go to market" (which he calls innovation) is far more important. Agree 10x!
He recognizes how critical innovation is to our world. It is central to such things as solving poverty, curing disease/health, & raising the welfare/standard of living for most humans. Most problems created by the scaling of our globe need innovations as the key solution.
Governments (around globe & across time) either play a supporting role in encouraging innovation or destructive role in discouraging it. Europe is lagging in such support. The U.S. has been a leader but is showing signs of calcification. China is clearly in the driver's seat.
Why would anyone choose to be anti-innovation? They might not know that they are. They are merely trying to protect old hierarchies, maintain the status quo, or keep an industry as it was in the past. However, this Ludicious protectionism has very real long-term consequences.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
