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People always say it won't work about everything. They're right a lot, and wrong a lot, with not much predictive power. The trick is just keep your own counsel

by eloff 7y ago

People always say it won't work about everything. They're right a lot, and wrong a lot, with not much predictive power. The trick is just keep your own counsel on what could work or not.

agumonkey 7y ago
true I'm still struggling about the paradox of dreaming of improving a world which can only happen if you ignore the world intuition about your attempt
- eloff 7y ago
  One way of looking at innovation is through the lens of the efficient market hypothesis. If the market were 100% efficient there would be no opportunities, every idea that could currently work would already be exploited fully. However, the market makes mistakes. People miss opportunities, discount them, etc. Almost by definition then, innovation requires going against the intuition of the market/crowd. Phrased another way, opportunities only exist where most people think they don't. So to be an innovator, you must be a contrarian about the thing you're innovating. Once you realize that, there is no paradox. It could not be otherwise.
  - agumonkey 7y ago
    I get that, it's just the core human emotions behind it. Fighting against the thing your trying to help feels odd. "why should I care" is something I often think nowadays. And often you end up not caring about improvement but about the pleasure of being the winner for a while and stashing profits.
    - eloff 7y ago
      I think that's fine. There aren't too many places where innovation truly makes the world a better place. I mean negative externalities and other exceptions aside, each innovation must make at least a small improvement to the world, or nobody would pay for it. But SV companies like to claim they're changing the world, when really their app/software is not such a big deal. Salesforce is not saving lives, but maybe it saves people some time and frustration. If you can do Elon Musk style innovation, that's enviable because you could have a really strong intrinsic motivation to do that. Most of us just settle for innovating a new job for ourselves that hopefully pays a bit better and is less hateful. I'd settle for that.

by eloff 7y ago

People always say it won't work about everything. They're right a lot, and wrong a lot, with not much predictive power. The trick is just keep your own counsel on what could work or not.

agumonkey 7y ago

true I'm still struggling about the paradox of dreaming of improving a world which can only happen if you ignore the world intuition about your attempt

eloff 7y ago
One way of looking at innovation is through the lens of the efficient market hypothesis. If the market were 100% efficient there would be no opportunities, every idea that could currently work would already be exploited fully. However, the market makes mistakes. People miss opportunities, discount them, etc. Almost by definition then, innovation requires going against the intuition of the market/crowd. Phrased another way, opportunities only exist where most people think they don't. So to be an innovator, you must be a contrarian about the thing you're innovating. Once you realize that, there is no paradox. It could not be otherwise.
- agumonkey 7y ago
  I get that, it's just the core human emotions behind it. Fighting against the thing your trying to help feels odd. "why should I care" is something I often think nowadays. And often you end up not caring about improvement but about the pleasure of being the winner for a while and stashing profits.
  - eloff 7y ago
    I think that's fine. There aren't too many places where innovation truly makes the world a better place. I mean negative externalities and other exceptions aside, each innovation must make at least a small improvement to the world, or nobody would pay for it. But SV companies like to claim they're changing the world, when really their app/software is not such a big deal. Salesforce is not saving lives, but maybe it saves people some time and frustration. If you can do Elon Musk style innovation, that's enviable because you could have a really strong intrinsic motivation to do that. Most of us just settle for innovating a new job for ourselves that hopefully pays a bit better and is less hateful. I'd settle for that.