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Md export of innovation notes
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‎content-org/garden/innovation.org‎

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@@ -62,9 +62,9 @@ In our present neoliberal capitalist context, innovations are LLM-powered search
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engines that are [[https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/we-compared-eight-ai-search-engines-theyre-all-bad-at-citing-news.php][confidently wrong more than 60% of the time]] and short-term
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rental platforms that destroy housing markets. Our societies' notion of
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innovation is not worked out democratically, Sadowski notes, but instead
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"defined by what fits into [VCs] portfolio of investments. Progress becomes
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"defined by what fits into [a VC's] portfolio of investments. Progress becomes
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defined by what aligns with their profit motive." (p54) Again, the class
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character of innovation is transparently clear.
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character of innovation is clear.
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** culturally constructed
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Wang provides an example of the historical and contextual contingency of

‎content/garden/innovation.md‎

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title = "innovation"
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author = ["Nilay Kumar"]
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date = 2025-03-17T00:00:00-04:00
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lastmod = 2025-03-21T00:25:35-04:00
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tags = ["technology"]
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draft = false
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progress = "new"
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## what is innovation? {#what-is-innovation}
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### political and economic change {#political-and-economic-change}
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Xiaowei Wang writes in _Blockchain Chicken Farm_
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> It's not clear what exactly innovation is, but whatever it is, there is
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> apparently a paucity of this golden resource everywhere except Silicon Valley...
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> The word "innovation" was derogatory in the age of monarchs, as it referred to
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> political and economic change that could bring down empires, threatening the
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> status of kings and elites.
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>
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> <div class="attribution">
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>
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> Wang, _Blockchain Chicken Farm_, page 123
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>
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> </div>
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The origin of the word was a surprise to me. On the one hand, Silicon Valley's
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usage of the term innovation is still consistent with this medieval definition,
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as their brash move-fast-and-break-things approach has indeed heralded massive
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political and economic changes (whether the rest of us wanted it or not). These
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changes have in many ways been for the worse when it comes to the working class
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(platformization, enshittification, gig economies, ...). On the other hand,
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instead of bringing down the empire,
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> Contemporary innovation in the United States and China appears to strengthen
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> rather than threaten the political and economic order of the world... Our
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> modern-day monarchs, corporations and CEOs, are unthreatened by innovation. It
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> begs the question: If innovation is so disruptive, why would it be embraced by
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> people with so much to lose?
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>
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> <div class="attribution">
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>
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> Wang, _Blockchain Chicken Farm_, page 124
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>
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> </div>
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They are pointing out precisely this class character of Silicon Valley's
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so-called "disruptive innovations", which unravels the seeming paradox posed by
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the question.
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### innovation sublime {#innovation-sublime}
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Sadowski, in _The Mechanic and the Luddite_, takes a different approach. He
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approaches innovation-as-idea:
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> It is a value that people prioritize over most others. It is a goal people
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> strive to acheive. It is an end that justifies almost any means necessary...
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> Innovation is a fetish: an object of obsession. Innovation is a feeling: a sense
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> of the sublime.
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>
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> <div class="attribution">
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>
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> Wang, _The Mechanic and the Luddite_, page 50
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>
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> </div>
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This is innovation as viewed through the rose-tinted, venture-capital backed
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Silicon Valley metaverse goggles. Sadowski urges us to descend from the idea-l
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and return to the material:
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> Innovation is not a timeless category that exists across all space-time but is
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> instead the product of its context. That context determines the creation and
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> application, purpose and value of things marked as innovations.
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>
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> <div class="attribution">
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>
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> Wang, _The Mechanic and the Luddite_, page 52
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>
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> </div>
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In our present neoliberal capitalist context, innovations are LLM-powered search
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engines that are [confidently wrong more than 60% of the time](https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/we-compared-eight-ai-search-engines-theyre-all-bad-at-citing-news.php) and short-term
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rental platforms that destroy housing markets. Our societies' notion of
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innovation is not worked out democratically, Sadowski notes, but instead
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"defined by what fits into [a VC's] portfolio of investments. Progress becomes
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defined by what aligns with their profit motive." (p54) Again, the class
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character of innovation is transparently clear.
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### culturally constructed {#culturally-constructed}
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Wang provides an example of the historical and contextual contingency of
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innovation in arguing that the distinct cultural notions of innovation in China
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prevented Western tech companies from taking off there:
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> Companies like eBay floundered in China, straining under the local advantage
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> that Taobao had in understanding the Chinese market. Key details were missed,
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> including the fact that eBay brokers secondhand goods, but in China, buying
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> secondhand goods, especially clothing, is frowned upon... The great innovators
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> of the United States found that innovation was culturally constructed.
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>
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> <div class="attribution">
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>
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> Wang, _Blockchain Chicken Farm_, page 126
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>
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> </div>
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This is an interesting argument, although Wang doesn't provide too much more
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evidence to support it directly. I don't doubt that culture is a significant
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influence, however, and much of their book is implicitly supporting evidence for
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the claim.

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