The Dream Machine, M. M. Waldrop

This is one of the top 3 of books I’ve read in 2020 and it is highly recommended by Patrick Collison. If I sent you “The Dream Machine”, you are likely a founder or a scientist.

Why this book is so important to me.

It doesn’t just show how progress is done. It gives you a sense of how progress feels like from within. It takes you on a ride through the most important ideas of the last 70 years that led to the computer and the internet as we know it today.

Reading the stories of all the people involved corrected two misconceptions:

Misconception 1: Big innovations are achieved by individuals.
In truth it’s multiple small groups of people who bring us forward.

Misconception 2: We are making more progress than ever.
We made much bigger leaps in the 40s, 50s and 60s. In fact the rate of progress today is (probably) lower than it used to be.

Happy reading!

End.

PS: Is progress really slowing down?

I don’t know. But there is enough data to worry. I’ll probably write an essay about it at some point. Until then, here are some good resources to check:

Is the rate of scientific progress slowing down?
Paper by Tyler Cowen & Ben Southwood

Science Is Getting Less Bang for Its Buck
Article by Patrick Collison & Michael Nielsen

Zuck, Patrick & Tyler Cowen talking about this very issue:

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