

The Mediocre Returns of Extraordinary Technologies - skmurphy
http://www.frontiereconomy.com/2009/07/the-mediocre-returns-of-extraordinary-technologies/

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skmurphy
Core Observation:

For all of its undeniable power, the printing press wasn’t the source of large
fortunes for the engineers, investors, and businessmen involved in this
industry. Profits were made, yes, sometimes significant ones, but nothing
quite proportional to the influence of the technology. The bulk of the
benefits came to the organizations that leveraged this technology for their
own ends like modern states, which would have been logistically impossible
without the printing press, or the myriad business that cannot be conceived
without a superbly well-educated (for pre-modern standards) source of workers
and consumers.

The same pattern can be seen in many other technical advances, specially those
that impacted society the most. Contraceptives, telecommunications,
refrigeration: they are often overlooked foundations of the contemporary
world, each of them enormously disruptive, yet none of them, over the long
term, a gold mine of extraordinary returns.

~~~
litewulf
This is perhaps a sign that "dollar earned" is a very poor metric for impact.
I find it very disappointing to see presentations of Cool Project X which have
as their second or third slide Monetization, when I wish things could often be
justified because they make the world epsilon better.

~~~
eru
We do not live to breath, but we do have to breath to live. Profit is
necessary to make your projects sustainable.

As you can see, as the article says often important inventions do not lead to
a lot of immediate profit, but they have to make at least some money to
survive.

------
Eliezer
Profits aren't determined by how much value you create, they're determined by
how much value you can capture.

