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For the innovation to hit critical mass, do we have to survive a black plague, or will any large devastating event do? Kidding aside, I wonder how hard it was
by BashiBazouk 11y ago
For the innovation to hit critical mass, do we have to survive a black plague, or will any large devastating event do?
Kidding aside, I wonder how hard it was to break in to the innovative trades without a politically connected benefactor (or be born in to it). This far out historically, we mainly hear the success stories and rarely the failures to which I expect were many and tragic.
- tnecniv 11y agoFirst sentence reminded me of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyuJQ_UO7OE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyuJQ_UO7OE
- entee 11y agoThere are periodic "devastating" events in the valley, maybe not quite as bad but there is a boom-bust cycle in the valley does something similar. The selection bias for positive outcomes is pervasive. There were many, many apprentices working for guys like Verocchio, and pretty much the only one we know of is Da Vinci. That said, just because you only hear of the analogies to Jobs/Woz, Ellison, Page/Brin, Gates, Zuckerberg, doesn't mean there weren't plenty of quite successful individuals. Likely, their work was lost as it wasn't of enough lasting value to survive the political and socioeconomic upheaval of a half-millenium, but I want to believe some merely-very-good people did well. Sadly there's no real way to tell...