From the article: "That something happened to
humanity's capacity to solve big problems is a commonplace. Recently, however,
the complaint has developed a new stridency among Silicon Valley's investors
and entrepreneurs, although it is usually expressed a little differently:
people say there is a paucity of real innovations. Instead, they worry,
technologists have diverted us and enriched themselves with trivial toys.
… Let's stipulate that venture-backed entrepreneurialism is
essential to the development and commercialization of technological
innovations. But it is not sufficient by itself to solve big problems, nor
could its relative sickliness by itself undo our capacity for collective action
through technology." Read more
