29/ Heck, in 1980 they'd be putting on polyester suits, fastening their ties, driving their crappy cars running on leaded gas to dirty cities so sit at desks under flourescents and file TPS reports. No flying cars, but now there's a vast industry of artists, crafts people,
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41/ Would be curious to hear Matt say more on this, bc I think that tons of REAL engineering work takes place every dayhttps://twitter.com/mattparlmer/status/1345110620807569415 …
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42/ I think there's something to this. But, also, we are now rich enough as a society to prize a large basket of goods, such as indoor heat AND steel AND clean air, which means regulations and trade offs, which means we don't have rapid "break throughs"https://twitter.com/MaiqTL/status/1345111878884847617 …
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43/ The fact that we are not building a Pittsburgh full of smoke belching refineries and mills do XYZ is not evidence that tech has stalled, but that we're rich enough to intentionally throttle some development until we can do it without externalities.
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44/ When you see China build cities overnight, that is, yes, PARTIALLY a sign of a young vibrant can-do culture ... but it is ALSO a sign of poverty. Poor countries can't "afford" property rights, or environmental review, etc.
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45/ yep! This is another facet - early tech is big and in your face and LOOKS like tech. E.g. a massive coal smoke belching train. Later tech is quiet and unobtrusive - like cheap cameras the suppress property crime, which makes us wealthier. https://twitter.com/2Akmessiah/status/1345112653480382465 …
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46/ And a lot of tech is big and bulky ... but hidden away from view (which, again, is a sign of wealth). MRI machines and a thousand other advancements lower cancer deaths, but what does that look like? It doesn't look like a big machine. It looks like grandma at Christmas.
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47/ "ersatz" is a bogus complaint. Yes, processed fish sticks aren't as awesome as tuna sushi ... but it's 1% the price. Without fish stick technology, the people eating fish sticks today weren't eating high grade sushi. They were eating oatmeal.https://twitter.com/GregSuburban/status/1345112559020507136 …
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48/ Chipboard bookshelves aren't as good as hand made walnut barrister bookcases with brass fittings. But without ersatz chipboard, the normies weren't using barrister walnut - they had no shelves.
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50/ yes and that improvement in rubber technology means that everything you buy costs 0.1% less than before, which means you can take a slightly longer vacation ...and 5 days on the beach instead of 4 doesn't "count" as technology.https://twitter.com/leepavelich/status/1345113209947111425 …
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51/ These 1% improvements are going to keep adding up, and in 30 or 50 years you'll take a vacation to Mars. ...and people will bitch "well, space travel isn't a NEW or REAL technology ... we had this a century ago. They just PRODUCTIZED it." Again: "just".
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52/ I don't, as I explained in the above 51 tweets.https://twitter.com/k0stoglotov/status/1345118922404630528 …
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53/ Technology has ALLOWED ME to live on a farm and grow my own food. Technology allows others to live in places with indoor plumbing (another simulation, I guess, of the more visceral and real state of nature). So maybe it's a toss up.https://twitter.com/GregSuburban/status/1345119293059416064 …
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54/ Asserting "X is Y" without an explanation, cites, discussion, etc., is very boring. Everyone has an opinion. Your opinion WITHOUT ELABORATION is hideously boring. so...EXPLAIN. GIVE EVIDENCE. MAKE THIS NOT BORING.https://twitter.com/k0stoglotov/status/1345119387234099200 …
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55/ Exactly. Tiny improvements compound and make things move from "the lab" to homes, "all at once".https://twitter.com/Jubalnc/status/1345119856010686464 …
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56/ Rome was a society that routine tortured political criminals to death, practiced infanticide, and child sexual slavery. I'm very glad that productizing steam took a while.https://twitter.com/JohnTaloni/status/1345131866651676672?s=19 …
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