All of jasoncrawford's Comments + Replies
I think you're right about “dark matter,” and precision machining is exactly the first example of it that leapt to mind. E.g., Watt was having a hard time getting his improved steam engine to work reliably, because without a very good fit between the piston and cylinder, steam pressure would be lost. The problem was solved by Wilkinson, who had developed a special technique for boring canons that could be applied to cylinders for engines. This story is told toward the beginning of Simon Winchester's book The Perfectionists (sold in the UK under the title E... (read more)
Thanks Gale! In a nutshell, what are the most important takeaways from those pieces?
What's a good example of slowing a technology that is likely to be harmful?
Re “It's Time to Build”; I was also a bit surprised to see that here as a separate item, for the same reason. But, I was also surprised to see Schmidt Futures as a separate item—it's a bit hard for me to understand how a single entity can be an idea machine unto itself? Nadia is coming at these things at a very granular level, and I find that interesting in itself.
Eli Dourado:
Exciting geothermal news today!
I’m pleased to advise and help unveil Project Innerspace, a new nonprofit focused on removing the technical obstacles to Geothermal Anywhere by 2030. Check out the site, and follow @innerspace2030.
Hmm, I think it is supposed to tick up by 2. Are you sure you're getting a strong vote in? You have to click and hold for a while until it takes.
A single commissioner would be too constrained I think. It's not just the NRC holding back nuclear: it's also state-level restrictions, the Yucca Mountain problem, environmental review, community opposition, etc.
Kwasi Kwarteng, UK Business & Energy Secretary and MP for Spelthorne:
We need more nuclear! Today I'm launching our £120m Future Nuclear Fund to entice more developers to invest £billions in new power stations. More nuclear developers = greater competition = lower costs. After 30 years of delay, we're cracking on!
https://twitter.com/KwasiKwarteng/status/1524993089861033986
Well, the point of a lot of this is to look at outputs as a function of inputs. That is what Bloom 2020 is looking at. You need some measure of inputs (they basically use R&D spending, deflated by the wage rate) and some measure of output (GDP, transistor density, crop yields, etc.) and then you figure out the quantitative relationship.
If solar panels or genome sequencing don't look like this, that would be very interesting! My guess would be that they do.
That would make a good topic for a separate post/debate somewhere! In any case, the models discussed here don't have terms for institutions, so clearly there is something important they're not yet capturing…
I think that story fits, too. And Romer/Jones would seem to be sympathetic as well. From the “New Kaldor Facts” paper mentioned above (emphasis added):
... (read more)There is very broad agreement that differences in institutions must be the fundamental source of the wide differences in growth rates observed for countries at low levels of income, and for the low income and TFP levels themselves. In any model, bad institutions will distort the usage of rival inputs like labor and capital (Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo 2005; Diego Restuccia and Richard Rogerson 2008;
Steve Hsu:
Veil of Ignorance (Rawls) construction of social justice ignores technological change. Perhaps individual incentives, and consequent inequality, are necessary for economic growth and tech innovation.. an empirical question!
Hypothesis Fund launches today:
... (read more)The Hypothesis Fund advances scientific knowledge by supporting early stage, innovative research that increases our adaptability against systemic risks to the health of people and the planet.
We make seed grants to fund research projects at their earliest stages, typically before there is any preliminary data. Our funding is intended to be catalytic — a fast path to enable a scientist to ‘turn over the card’ and see what’s there. And we focus on bold new ideas in basic research, not continuations of existing research.
The
I agree in general about the measurement challenge. However, one strength of Bloom (2020) is that they look at a variety of areas using different metrics: Moore's law, agricultural productivity, etc. (They don't really look at patents, in part because it's hard to know what patents mean/represent.) In any case, it's not just GDP. The fact that there are similar patterns across different metrics is evidence that there's something real going on.
Holden Karnofsky and Scott Alexander go further, albeit with less solid quantitative support, and extend the patter... (read more)
I was once asked, if I could take a time machine and make one change to the course of history, what would I do? And my immediate response was: I would go back to ancient Greece and try to stop the Peloponnesian Wars.
Revision history:
- 2022-05-12: Initial draft published
More seriously, I think humanism is the fundamental issue here. Are we trying to save the Earth for humans or from them?
The first time I heard about IPAT my reaction was, “well, population, affluence and technology are all good things, so… if impact is the product of them, it seems pretty great?” (Tongue in cheek.)
Chad Jones, “Time Series Tests of Endogenous Growth Models” (1995):
... (read more)Consider the following simple exercise. An economist living in the year 1929 (who has miraculous access to historical per capita GDP data) fits a simple linear trend to the natural log of per capita GDP for the United States from 1880 to 1929 in an attempt to forecast per capita GDP today, say in 1987. How far off would the prediction be? We can use the prediction error from this constant growth rate path as a rough indicator of the importance of the positive permanent movements in growth r
Virginia Postrel:
The dynamist coalition that I imagined 25 years ago finally seems to be coalescing, thanks in part to our broken politics.
Elon Musk:
I have to say the this this notion of induced demand is one of the single dumbest notions I've ever heard in my entire life.… If adding roads just increases traffic, why don't we delete them and decrease traffic? I think you'd have an uproar if you did that.
According to the CSS, it's “Mukta”? David Smehlik is our designer, he did a great job!
Very interesting that the initial impetus for air conditioning was production requirements, not human comfort. Similar to how the initial motivation for railroads (and really, most transportation innovations) was cargo, not passenger transport.
Nice! The bit about selling product in clear containers is interesting. There was a similar transition when plastics, I think particularly cellophane, were first introduced. Customers could see the product they were buying—particularly with food—and be more assured of its quality, without exposing the product to air (and germs). So many little things we take for granted.
Good question. I haven't read anything indicating this, and of course the famous breakthrough in cotton productivity, Whitney's cotton gin, was invented in 1793, well after textile mechanization was underway in Britain. So my guess is no. In fact, I've always sort of assumed that it was the other way around: efficiencies in later stages of the process created demand for higher productivity in earlier stages. Flying shuttle (1733) doubles the productivity of weavers, which creates more demand for thread; spinning machines (1760s) increase the productivity o... (read more)
Thanks Laura—I've heard great things about this talk; I need to check it out!
Well, maybe as a measure of “influence” absolute numbers would still make sense
Hmm, they have a big head start though. Comparing absolute numbers would be unfair to us; comparing growth rates would be unfair to them!
How would you define the terms of the bet?
Very interesting.
Re movie franchises and cinematic universes, I see it as a branding issue analogous to food/beverage chains. If I see a Starbucks, I know what to expect, I know whether or not it's the kind of thing I like, and I can count on a certain level of quality. A boutique coffee shop might be better than Starbucks, but I'm taking a chance.
Similarly, if I go to see a Marvel movie, I know what to expect, etc. Whereas if I see some other movie, even if I know it's in the action/adventure or superhero genre, I'm taking more of a chance.
The only thing ... (read more)
Also, for a contrast—that is, what not to do—see James Pethokoukis's “The Smithsonian’s dreary 'Futures' exhibition is stuck in the eco-pessimist 1970s”:
... (read more)A tour of Futures gives little to no hint (a) that America has again returned to manned space flight; (b) that Musk’s SpaceX, not NASA, is responsible for a historic reduction in launch costs that could revolutionize manned exploration and space economics; (c) that there’s renewed global interest in nuclear power, and major advances being made in nuclear fusion and geothermal; (d) that there’s this revolut
Thanks Cameron! So excited about this project and your vision for it.
I also liked Anton Howes's idea for a new Fair:
... (read more)So what would a modern-day exhibition of industry look like today? We would have to imagine all of today’s specific industry fairs, combined. Like the popular Consumer Electronics Show, but for everything. A place where visitors would actually get to see drone deliveries in action, take rides in a driverless car, experience the latest in virtual reality technology, play with prototype augmented reality devices, see organ tissue and metals and
Interesting paper and great writeup.
One thing I wonder about: how much of the “brains” setback was due to it being from an evil, self-imposed policy? That is, the bombing was a sort of random, external factor. But the expulsion of the Jews was a conscious policy from the regime. If the scientists had randomly died of disease or something, instead of being deliberately kicked out, would the effect have been similar?
New blog prize for “positive visions of the world 50 years from now”: https://twitter.com/effective_ideas/status/1521191531406761984
Eren Bali:
I grew up in a small village in Turkey. Before commercial fertilizers became affordable enough, you would collect cow shit all year, let it dry out and use it as fertilizer. It was hard labor, didn’t work as well and smelled as you’d think it smells.
New podcast from Stripe Press:
Introducing Beneath the Surface—a seven-part podcast series about infrastructure.
Join us on May 3rd for the first episode.
First thought: seems like the kind of thing you could use for vaccine development and manufacturing in a pandemic? (How does this relate to what the Gates Foundation did… didn't they fund manufacturing facilities for several vaccines, even in advance of knowing which one would work?)
Another potential application: carbon capture systems?
From Dima Shamoun:
I just wanted to bring to your attention this recent release by the Health Physics Society on the entire history of the Linear Non-Threshold model, in the form of 22 episodes interview with Ed Calabrese.
For context, see “Why has nuclear power been a flop?” and my interview with Dima on her podcast Flies in the Ointment.
Voltaire on commerce and religious tolerance:
... (read more)Go into the Royal Exchange in London, a building more respectable than most courts; there you will find deputies from every nation assembled simply to serve mankind. There, the Jew, the Mohammedan, and the Christian negotiate with one another as if they were all of the same religion, and the only heretics are those who declare bankruptcy; there the Presbyterian trusts the Anabaptist, the Anglican accepts the word of the Quaker. Leaving this peaceful and liberal assembly, some go to the synagogue, others go to dr
Hmm:
A 1965 Harris poll showed 57 percent of Americans believed money would be better spent on a less literal moonshot: new water desalination systems. A few years later, in 1967, only 43 percent of the public supported landing a man on the moon, according to another Harris poll. It was popularly referred to as a “moondoggle.”
From “Bernie Sanders Would Have Voted Against the Moon Landing”
If you’re trying to promote progress and abundance, you need to figure out how. What’s the roadmap from here to utopia?
Sarah Constantin on her aims with her new blog: “In Search of Opportunity”
Tomas Puyeo on “Why Germany Won’t Keep Its Nuclear Plants Open”:
... (read more)The document explaining Germany’s nuclear position reads as a long list of excuses of why it would be inconvenient to keep nuclear reactors open, forget about reopening old ones.
What is even more interesting is not what’s there, but what’s not there. This is not a cost-benefit analysis. It doesn’t explain the benefits of reopening the reactors, how much money would be saved, how much safer Germany would be, how much more it could defend its neighbors.
When you only pay attention to something’s
I think to avoid repeating past mistakes, it's crucial to remember that (1) technology and industry are ultimately valuable only in the service of human well-being, and (2) in order to ensure this, we need more than just technology and industry: we need the recognition and protection of individual rights.
Strong agree. I called out “vision for the future” as one of four key areas that progress studies writers should focus on here: “What would a thriving progress movement look like?”
I would add another reason for futurism that's maybe even more important: it can inspire and motivate scientists, inventors, and founders—exactly the people who will be actually making these breakthroughs. It can spotlight exciting opportunities and help direct their efforts. (Maybe this is just a part of your first reason.)
Because of all this, I think J. Storrs Hall did a great ... (read more)
There are a number of books on the history of the idea of progress, most famously by J. B. Bury. I have only skimmed/sampled them, though.
The best thing I've read on this topic is from Joel Mokyr in The Atlantic: “Progress Isn't Natural”
Nuclear going mainstream? https://twitter.com/CBSMornings/status/1516036558876553222
Experts and environmentalists say the U.S. will need to turn to nuclear power, which creates no planet-warming emissions, to replace fossil fuels.
“Nuclear power will be a reliable, stable fuel source for many, many years to come,” says one power company official.
Thanks Adam! A few thoughts in response:
1. On comprehension vs. advocacy, I think there are actually two types of advocacy. One is more like “application” and is analogous to medicine or engineering: we learn something (comprehension) that can then be applied for practical results. In Cowen & Collison's article, they give the example of teaching better management practices to companies.
The other type is advocating for progress itself: promoting the idea that progress is even desirable and possible. I don't think this has an analog in biology/medicine, ... (read more)
This looks interesting: “Funding for long-term-oriented people and projects”
Thanks. I generally agree with all these points, but do they change any of the conclusions? These complexities aren't represented in the models because, well, they would make the models more complex, and it's not clear we need them. But if it made a crucial difference, then I'm sure this would get worked into the models. (It's actually not uncommon to see models that break out different variables for each invention or product, it's just that those details don't end up being important for high-level summaries like this.)