Are those things that good? I don’t feel like I notice a huge quality of life difference from the pens I used ten years ago versus the pens I use now. Same with laptops and smartphones (although I care unusually little about that kind of thing so maybe I’m just not tracking it). Medicines have definitely improved although it seems worth noting that practically everyone I know has some terrible health problem they can’t fix and we all still die.
I feel like pushing the envelope on feature improvements is way easier than pushing the envelope on fundamental progress, and progress on the former seems compatible, to me, with pretty broken institutions. In some respects, small feature improvements is what you’d expect from middle manager hell, kind of like the lowest common denominator of a legible signal that you’re doing something. It’s true that these companies probably wouldn’t exist if they were all around terrible. But imo it’s more that they become pretty myopic and lame relative to what they could be. I think academia has related problems, too.
To be honest I actually do use the same pens as I used 10 years ago. Laptops have faster processors at least, and I can now do more stuff with them than I used to be able to. I don’t have a terrible health problem I can’t fix and haven’t died yet.
I totally believe that we’re doing way worse than we could be and management practices are somehow to blame, just because the world isn’t optimal and management is high-leverage. But in this model, I don’t understand how you even get sustained improvements.
Are those things that good? I don’t feel like I notice a huge quality of life difference from the pens I used ten years ago versus the pens I use now. Same with laptops and smartphones (although I care unusually little about that kind of thing so maybe I’m just not tracking it). Medicines have definitely improved although it seems worth noting that practically everyone I know has some terrible health problem they can’t fix and we all still die.
I feel like pushing the envelope on feature improvements is way easier than pushing the envelope on fundamental progress, and progress on the former seems compatible, to me, with pretty broken institutions. In some respects, small feature improvements is what you’d expect from middle manager hell, kind of like the lowest common denominator of a legible signal that you’re doing something. It’s true that these companies probably wouldn’t exist if they were all around terrible. But imo it’s more that they become pretty myopic and lame relative to what they could be. I think academia has related problems, too.
To be honest I actually do use the same pens as I used 10 years ago. Laptops have faster processors at least, and I can now do more stuff with them than I used to be able to. I don’t have a terrible health problem I can’t fix and haven’t died yet.
I totally believe that we’re doing way worse than we could be and management practices are somehow to blame, just because the world isn’t optimal and management is high-leverage. But in this model, I don’t understand how you even get sustained improvements.