innovation
World's Hardest Problems
Sustainability + Human Development Is the food we eat scalable, sustainable, healthy, nutritious and tasty? Is the air we breathe clean? Is the water we drink pure? Is there a way to produce energy that is relatively abundant, cheap and clean? Is there a way to reverse or mitigate climate chan...
docs.google.comThe answer, I think, is what it almost always is: that inventors are simply extremely rare. People can have all the incentives, all the materials, all the mechanical skills, and even all the right general notions of how things work. As we’ve seen, even Savery himself was apparently inspired by the same ancient experiment as everyone else who worked... See more
Anton Howes • Age of Invention: Why wasn't the Steam Engine Invented Earlier? Part III


When you’re focused on something few others are thinking about, you find yourself constantly making the case to yourself and others that your vision is worth pursuing and worthy of other people’s attention. This ongoing need to justify your work creates a significant emotional overhead.



