While reviewing two other progress studies posts for the LW 2019 Review (Concrete and Artificial Fertilizer) I found myself thinking “these seem neat, but I don’t feel like I can directly apply the knowledge here very much. What I really wish Jason Crawford would write (someday) are posts that take a birds eye view of progress, taking advantage of the gestalt of all the different object level “how did we invent X?” research and then deriving insights about the bigger picture.
So, I am quite delighted by this post, which I feel like does exactly that.
While reviewing two other progress studies posts for the LW 2019 Review (Concrete and Artificial Fertilizer) I found myself thinking “these seem neat, but I don’t feel like I can directly apply the knowledge here very much. What I really wish Jason Crawford would write (someday) are posts that take a birds eye view of progress, taking advantage of the gestalt of all the different object level “how did we invent X?” research and then deriving insights about the bigger picture.
So, I am quite delighted by this post, which I feel like does exactly that.
Thanks! I had to start from the ground level to build up to this perspective…