WHERE’S MY FLYING CAR?….Paul Krugman suggests that energy technology hasn’t advanced much in recent decades and then adds this:
I’d actually suggest that this is true not just for energy but for our ability to manipulate the physical world in general: 2001 didn’t look much like 2001, and in general material life has been relatively static. (How do the changes in the way we live between 1958 and 2008 compare with the changes between 1908 and 1958? I think the answer is obvious.)
I agree — though I’d mention the biotech revolution as an exception. (And note that Krugman isn’t talking about computers here, only technologies that “manipulate the physical world.”) I think it’s because we haven’t had another big breakthrough since the electrification revolution in the early 20th century.
Discuss.
