John Taylor Gatto was New York City Teacher of the Year in 1989, 1990, and 1991, and New York State Teacher of the Year in 1991. We only spoke twice, but he was very generous with his time: October, 2010: As a perfect stranger, I arranged a phone call with him (to talk about DreamBox…
On Amazon.com: Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation: How companies can seize opportunities in the face of technological change (1994) I started the Internet Explorer team at Microsoft in October, 1994. Without benefit of Google or Amazon.com, I found this book, which answered many strategic questions for me about how Microsoft should approach the Internet. The case studies and…
On Amazon.com: The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves (2010) Author Matt Ridley provides a sweeping summary of human and technology evolution, going back roughly 200,000 years. He asserts that the development of trade led to specialization which led to agriculture which led to cities. I find this by far the most plausible theory, but it is at odds with the…
My 8/1/2015 WSJ Letter to the Editor, reprinted here: [My proposed title was “Lame Robotic Strawmen”, but the WSJ ignored that.] July 31, 2015 4:30 p.m. ET The concerns expressed in the essay “Is It Possible to Create an Ethical Robot?” (Review, July 25) about “blindly obeying” speed limits are already solved, as BMW and…
My list of key innovations since 1970 and my predictions for the next 30 years: Since 1970 Futures PC, μProcessor Self-Driving Cars Cable TV Drones LED, LCD Robots Mobile Phone Dr. Cloud Email, SMS Genetic Engineering Internet, Wi-Fi Rockets to Mars GPS Your Baby’s Owner’s Manual Flash Memory Digital Camera Li-Ion Battery DNA sequencing
On Amazon.com: Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper: How Innovation Keeps Proving the Catastrophists Wrong (2014) Author Robert Bryce challenges the zero-sum neo-Malthusians (climate change, polution, water shortages, war, political gridlock, debt crises, income inequality, etc.) head-on in his latest book. By recounting the technological progress human beings have made in so many different areas — including communications, electronics,…
