When The Magic Happens

Two of the biggest innovations of modern times are cars and airplanes. At first, every new invention looks like a toy. It takes decades for people to realise the potential of it.

• Adolphus Greely, a brigadier general, was one of the first people outside the car indust...

There are three types of incentives:

1. "If I don't figure this out, I might get fired." It will get you moving.
2. "If I figure this out, I might help people and make a lot of money." It will produce creativity....

The biggest innovations seldom happen when everyone's happy or safe. They happen when people are a little panicked and worried, and when they have to act quickly.

In 1932, the stock market fell by 89%. It was an economic disaster where almost a quarter of ...

• While the 1920s were the era of the automobile, the construction of roads took off in the 1930s with multilane engineering marvels, including the George Washington, Golden Gate, and Bay Bridges, cutting travel times.
• Electrification surged in the 1930s. Power was brought to farms. ...

The big technical leap of the 1930s could not have happened without the devastation of the depression. However, there is a limit to stress-induced innovation: The foundations of the economy itself should remain intact to support new ideas and innovations.

This balance bet...

Innovations usually begin with an attempt to solve a specific problem, but they end up triggering other changes that would have been very difficult to predict. An innovation in one field ends up encouraging changes in different domains.

• Right now, many biotech compan...