Re:Why Futurism Has a Cultural Blindspot (2015)
by mncharity on Sunday October 14, 2018 @02:52AM
(#18211711)
> Ideas, not technology, have driven the biggest historical changes.
A Radcliffe outreach symposium about genetics research included a sketch of the history of the field. Someone asked where the dramatic innovation was coming from. It was clear they really wanted an answer of Kuhn-revolution changes in perspective leading to better questions. They were notably unhappy with the answer that, no, it was mostly technological economics. Advancing tech (sequencing, PCR), dropping costs by orders of magnitude, changed the questions we could afford to pursue.
A Radcliffe outreach symposium about genetics research included a sketch of the history of the field. Someone asked where the dramatic innovation was coming from. It was clear they really wanted an answer of Kuhn-revolution changes in perspective leading to better questions. They were notably unhappy with the answer that, no, it was mostly technological economics. Advancing tech (sequencing, PCR), dropping costs by orders of magnitude, changed the questions we could afford to pursue.