He’s wrong, very wrong.
The biggest technological change in the past 50 years has been the Internet. It affects almost everyone, everyday. For both Business and entertainment. It has generated trillions in wealth.
You literally have almost the entire knowledge of the world in your hand. (smart phones). I realize that most people do not use it for that purpose, but that is another issue.
The explosion in knowledge in Biology is going to change the world in the next 10, 20 years.
The problem is not technological advancement, but society. We are literally separating into the smarter and dumber tribes and that will probably not end well.
Its true we turned out backs on Space, which was a major mistake. But what is needed here is two things. Cheaper access to space and a cash crop to pull investment and people into space. Some minor progress is being made on both fronts.
We are all so ignorant of how people in other professions do things today.
I was just at the dentist. He told me that Novocain was obsolete. Had been since he started dental school in 2000. He now uses 4 different types of anesthetic for different applications.
They no longer use mercury silver amalgam. They use engineered materials that cure under ultraviolet light in seconds and are almost instantly harder than enamel in seconds.
This kind of progress is being made in all (viable) industries. Is Ferguson thinking about this kind of progress in his flip analysis?