# The Lack of Innovation and Despair By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2024-04-04 In the 1970s, an odd thing started happening: economic growth metrics were decoupled from wages. Essentially, gains in economic productivity are not resulting in an increase in wages for those performing the work as they did until the 1970s. This is commonly called the Great Decoupling, representing a significant socioeconomic shift that continues today. Many people have attempted to explain why this shift occurred. Theories range from technological advances, globalization, financialization, and systemic wage inequality caused by the consequences of capitalism. The plethora of explanations and arguments around this topic indicate how little we understand the situation and the system. As this is one of the most complex systems in the universe, the cause of this decoupling is likely a bit of everything. But what are the essential causes, and what are just inconsequential blimps on the radar? For example, is the essential reason one is late to work the traffic caused by light rain or that one forgot to set the alarm clock? In this example, the alarm clock is the essential cause, even though the traffic and rain factually added a few minutes to one's tardy arrival. I suspect we are missing the essential causes for the Great Decoupling and are distracted by blaming the traffic and rain. Consider the following: What have we learned about the nature of the universe since the 1970s? Has cancer been cured? No. Has physics discovered much of anything after Einstein and quantum mechanics? No. Is space travel to other planets feasible? No. Have alternative economic systems been created? Nope. Are we any closer to understanding conscientiousness? No, again. Have new forms of computing been developed? No, we've only improved materials and processing capabilities. If one compares the life of someone from 1930 to 1970 (40 years), the world has changed immensely. If one compares the life of someone from 1970 to 2010 (40 years), things have barely changed beyond the internet (which might be the only major innovation). In the last 50 years, there has been a plateau in human innovation and ingenuity. We are only making iterative improvements based on ideas created shortly after World War II. I see no greater call for the end of the status quo than this. We cannot sustain ourselves without innovation and human ingenuity. Progress in all dimensions is essential. #### Related Items [[Economics]] [[Thinking]] [[Systems Thinking]] [[Innovation]] [[Progress]] [[Ingenuity]] [[Inequality]] [[Society]] [[Status Quo]]