We must understand that trying new things means that some will fail, and that what is important is that we must fail in a way that allows us to move forward.
All in Innovation
We must understand that trying new things means that some will fail, and that what is important is that we must fail in a way that allows us to move forward.
So, as we aspire to be “innovative” or “creative”, we must learn to be better at evaluating plausible useful counterfactuals. Playing too safe doesn’t really get us anywhere beyond what may be in textbooks. And being too unanchored just creates arguments as useful as those in YouTube comments.
Perhaps a rule of thumb is as follows: “If you’re unsure, always choose against the status quo and always choose new.” Tradition is safe, but only innovation can get us where we need to go.
Therefore, it’s never “only the private sector should be in business” or “the government should always intervene in business”. Reality is far more complex and there are certainly pockets of market failures where the government does have a more direct role in economic activities.
Global politics have historically coincided with the advancement of science and technology, in large part because global competition — be it among companies, firms or individuals — allows for greater funding of innovation. We are in such an “era”.
…maybe we can go some ways into setting ourselves up for the future amid a really trying global environment and, maybe unlike my theory about my own fortunes, it can be all uphill from here! And if we are even more lucky, we might come out of this far, far stronger. Maybe we could be like Mike.
We need to be comprehensive of the mountains of potential data that we have lying all around us. Researchers have used tomb epitaphs, folklore stories and naming conventions from the past — can we challenge ourselves to be as creative and, more so, to digitise our data accordingly?
Technology need not be predestined, and technology policy is something policymakers can influence. Governments can and should shape the kinds of digital technology they believe their countries can adopt and deploy.
Economic development will have occasional failures as by-products of its progress. The optimal “experimental failure” level in a country is non-zero.
Without attempting something bold, our every social, political or economic possibility will always be “20 years away” or some faraway vision for us to achieve.
If successful innovation in nature comes from repurposing existing things to new functions, then we need to have as many “existing things” as possible.