[AndyJames]

I agree with you however truly innovative things that are not making anyone poorer are way rarer than author of this post suggests. Even Steve jobs devices, given here as an example, was taking part of the cake from someone else. First thing that came to my mind is original VCS made in 1972 by Bell Labs. This was an invention that genuinely created profit from place where no one else was making any money.

[bsedlm]

profit is not the same as wealth

[thecassandrist]

Inexplicably linked though. If you have a lot of one, the other is inevitable with even a modicum of effort.

[cehrlich]

He's not saying that new stuff will always not be zero sum, just that the space of potential non zero sum new things is bigger than the space of things that already exist.