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My mental models on Technology and Progress.
A Quick Thread.
1/N
A Quick Thread.
1/N
Technology is anything that helps us become more efficient.
Fire
is a piece of technology. By cooking raw meat, it allowed early Homo Sapiens to efficiently process nutrients, enabling a larger prefrontal-cortex.
2/N
Fire
is a piece of technology. By cooking raw meat, it allowed early Homo Sapiens to efficiently process nutrients, enabling a larger prefrontal-cortex. 2/N
Technology is the biggest driver of human progress. Other drivers include:
-Religion
-Institutions
-Free-markets
None of these come close to how profound the impact of Technology can be.
3/N
-Religion
-Institutions
-Free-markets
None of these come close to how profound the impact of Technology can be.
3/N
The printing press, vaccines, The Pill, nuclear energy, rockets that escape earth's gravity well, transistors, chips, cameras, smartphones, The Internet, cryptography – the list goes on.
Technological progress enables paradigm-shifts.
4/N
Technological progress enables paradigm-shifts.
4/N
Without technological progress, we would just be monkeys sitting in a cave afraid of external predators.
With technology, we are still monkeys but now we look to the stars with the hope of reaching them someday.
5/N
With technology, we are still monkeys but now we look to the stars with the hope of reaching them someday.
5/N
Ignore the modern Luddites. They are simply those who love technology just from 10 years ago.
6/N
6/N
Hard technological challenges are worth solving not only because they are hard, but because they often produce spin-off tech that advances humanity.
7/N
7/N
@elonmusk "putting a Tesla in space" is remarkably admirable because it requires:
1) Inventing a Tesla
2) Inventing a SpaceX
If you think it's trivial, try putting a car in space for yourself.
8/N
1) Inventing a Tesla
2) Inventing a SpaceX
If you think it's trivial, try putting a car in space for yourself.
8/N
If we waited to work on "flashy technology" like going to space until all "earthly" problems are solved, we'd never get to space.
9/N
9/N
Technological progress is extremely counter-intuitive and unpredictable.
What starts as a toy/experiment can end up changing the world. See: GPS and The Internet.
10/N
What starts as a toy/experiment can end up changing the world. See: GPS and The Internet.
10/N
Despite the all-too-common criticisms against tech, I sincerely believe in technology and that it's really the only way to drive progress by unlocking zero-sum games.
11/N
11/N
Think of it this way: The Universe gives us near-infinite energy which we can transform into wealth/prosperity using the right knowledge. But it also binds us with the 2nd law of thermodynamics.
Technology is how we get out of this bind.
12/N
Technology is how we get out of this bind.
12/N
There are over 7BN people on Earth, with about 10BN projected by 2050. Most of them want to attain first-world living standards.
Without technology, we'd just destroy the planet in trying to keep up.
13/N
Without technology, we'd just destroy the planet in trying to keep up.
13/N
