It's possible, even plausible, but I think it's not so. My guess is that in the decades around 1900 America and western Europe were considerably more dynamic --

It's possible, even plausible, but I think it's not so. My guess is that in the decades around 1900 America and western Europe were considerably more dynamic -- there was less overall resistance to innovation. To pick a tiny example, driver's licenses weren't required in all states until, iirc, the 1950s. Radio had decades of development before the FCC. Some doctors tested new treatments on themselves. Immigration from Europe to the U.S. was unlimited. I'm not promoting going back to those days -- I don't want to get into that argument -- but I'd like to reach better understanding of how much the growth slowdown since 1970ish is about the intrinsic difficulty of innovating vs. how much is about the way we collectively think and coordinate. Here's some fruit that looks low-hanging today relative to its value: atomically precise manufacturing. http://www.foresight.org/roadmaps/Nanotech_Roadmap_2007_main.pdf http://www.foresight.org/roadmaps/Nanotech_Roadmap_2007_main...