Internet and AI profoundly increase an individual’s potential productivity. The difference between these technologies and those of the Industrial Revolution is that the earlier advancements were essentially democratic. Everyone benefitted from them, in ways that were quite obvious. Whereas with the newer technologies, an individual can start a unicorn from his laptop, but he can also waste his life doomscrolling.
The Industrial Revolution was basically the height of western civilization, and the modern revolution is the beginning of something else. It’s not surprising that the metrics we developed in the previous civilization can’t really account for the gains we’re seeing now.
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Internet and AI profoundly increase an individual’s potential productivity. The difference between these technologies and those of the Industrial Revolution is that the earlier advancements were essentially democratic. Everyone benefitted from them, in ways that were quite obvious. Whereas with the newer technologies, an individual can start a unicorn from his laptop, but he can also waste his life doomscrolling.
The Industrial Revolution was basically the height of western civilization, and the modern revolution is the beginning of something else. It’s not surprising that the metrics we developed in the previous civilization can’t really account for the gains we’re seeing now.