> [citation needed] -- but addressing your point without a citation, even if what you say is true, it doesn't change anything at an individual level. > If you'

> [citation needed] -- but addressing your point without a citation, even if what you say is true, it doesn't change anything at an individual level. > If you're trying to write a book, and you want to write a book, write the damn book. There's an infinitesimal chance that the tool you're writing instead of your book will change the world. Not the person you were replying to, but their point certainly rings true to me, from all the history I've read or otherwise heard of over the years. They could just as easily ask you for citations. "if what you say is true, it doesn't change anything at an individual level" -- yes it does. It's usually individuals that come up with the important tools and inventions. Those development are very significant because they make systemic advances. "There's an infinitesimal chance that the tool you're writing instead of your book will change the world" - it doesn't matter how small the odds are for any one individual. There's two points here. One is that the effects can be cumulative -- even small advances and bits of knowledge gained contribute, over a longer period of time, to large benefits. The other is that the historical reality is that tools that were developed as side effects of other goals have made a very significant overall effect, and this can't be denied by a blinkered focus on the probabilities concerning individual cases.