I don't think the pain point for a lot of us is that there isn't much innovation. It's that most of us don't get to take part, nor to guarantee ourselves a fair

I don't think the pain point for a lot of us is that there isn't much innovation. It's that most of us don't get to take part, nor to guarantee ourselves a fair share of what innovation produces. Most people are barely at the table, without any role or say in the innovation that is going on (which is probably more than at any other time in history). We have one tiny minority (well-connected political and economic elites) that captures most of the value generated by any change, even though they produce absolutely nothing, and often they get to call the shots, even though they fuck up every decision they make. We have another small minority that is socially inferior and gets less direct benefit out of the changes, but drives them and thereby gets to participate in the current round of innovation. Then there are the 99-plus percent who are effectively non-players, some well-compensated and most not, but all at the mercy of forces that are not just out of our control (no one actually controls them, no single person has anywhere close to that level of power in this world) but over which we have no influence and no role in the driving. The angriest among us are the "Cognitive 1 Percent", the ones who know we could be making these important decisions better than the people (politicians, corporate CEOs, VC kingmakers) currently able to make them, the entrenched players being above-average but not at our level. It feels like there's no innovation. There's plenty, in comparison to any other time in history. There just isn't much of a role in it for any but the most well-situated people.