| > Back then people were making human sacrifices and starting wars because 'the Gods told them to do so'. Not relevant. All of those were established behavior patterns at the time. Not 'risk taking'. > Innovation happens when risks are taken For every such example you can pull out from history, there are dozens of innovations resulting from incremental improvement and learning from others and the nature. > The rate of innovation has been slowing down due to the diminishing in the standard deviation of human behavior. There has never been more deviants in human history than now. In human history, sticking with the social norms, known behavior patterns and keeping the existing social group and its framework safe were critical to survival. From traditions to laws everything were based on those. With your logic, it should be the most innovative period in history whereas the past should be the least innovative. Yet you are saying the opposite. Innovation as you see it has been slowing down because science and technology have been privatized through patents towards the end of 19th century by big money entering the field and consolidating it. Exacerbated by the 'state secrets' concept. Before that, virtually everything was Open Source during the scientific revolution. > So even if the guy who personally discovered fire There was no such singular guy. ... In any case, thanks for the discussion. |