Progress Studies

Governments sporadically got things spectacularly wrong. In 1865, the rail and horse-drawn carriage lobbies in the U.K. drummed up enough outrage to pass the Locomotive Act, whose most notable feature was an absurd requirement that a man walk in front of any self-propelled vehicle waving a red flag and blowing a horn. It stunted the U.K. automobile... See more

In 2010, people still thought the main application of mobile was coupons. @yishan set them straight.

Malthus was wrong. We make MORE food than ever with LESS land than ever. Because we have one inexhaustible resource— Human ingenuity.