innovation culture

Caro’s question is: How does political power really work in America?

Once he asks it, it takes the wheel. Caro is willing to go broke to answer it.

For example: one day in the 1960s, his wife Ina sold their home so that he wouldn’t have to, because it was obvious to both of them that they needed to. And despite being warned by those around Robert... See more

Ideas have this amazing property. Thomas Jefferson said "He who receives an idea from me receives instruction himself, without lessening mine. As he who lights his candle at mine receives light without darkening me."

A modern darling of edutainment that is a big public success would be Duolingo. Their focus on gamification is deeply studied and widely appreciated. In an interview the founder was asked about the conflict between gamification/engagement and education. To which Luis (founder and ceo of Duolingo) responded they always pick gamification/engagement... See more

Together, Hobart and Huber argue that bubbles are coordination mechanisms for progress: by linking collective risk to potential financial rewards, bubbles enable megaprojects beyond the capability of any single person or industry—megaprojects which, although risky, mark inflection points in technology, economics, and culture when they are... See more

Relatively flat US output growth versus rising numbers of US researchers is often interpreted as evidence that “ideas are getting harder to find.” We build a new 46-year panel tracking the universe of U.S. firms’ patenting to investigate the micro underpinnings of this claim, separately examining the relationships between research inputs and ideas

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But it's also true that right now is a great time to do something ambitious. Robin Hanson calls the present "the dreamtime", following a concept in Aboriginal myths: the time when the future world order and its values are still liquid, not yet set in stone.