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Articles by Robert Hendershott
Why Crypto?
As Crypto begins being increasingly identified with wild speculation, crashing prices and Ponzi schemes, it’s worth remembering the vast potential upside that the sector offers. Many cryptocurrency enthusiasts envision Bitcoin (or Ether) replacing the dollar as Money. The jury is still out but both adoption and volatility trends make us dubious.
Cryptos’ Meltdown
We’re sorry. Since our last newsletter the S&P500 has fallen over 20%. The Nasdaq is down 27%. Bitcoin has plummeted 55%. Even Treasury Bonds are down 15%. Clearly Ingenuism was the only thing holding up a slew of teetering markets! Our writing pause was unavoidable - a health issue in Robert’s family and a job opportunity for Don meant we couldn’t continue propping up asset markets. But enough is enough so we are back, hoping to staunch the bleeding.
Fintech and Flourishing
“There is only one thing stronger than all the armies of the world: and that is an idea whose time has come.” –Victor Hugo Ingenuism at war – Silicon Valley Examined 35 In this week’s episode of the Silicon Valley Examined podcast, Don Watkins and Yaron Brook discuss what war teaches us about progress, the role of technology in war, and how to achieve military and economic security in a connected world. Listen on Spotify or iTunes.
Critical Mass is Critical
“How to work with creative people: Find people with bold beliefs, get the hell out of their way, and let them do their thing.” –David Perell The promise and perils of biotech – Silicon Valley Examined 32 In this episode of Silicon Valley Examined, Don Watkins and Yaron Brook discuss the exciting potential of CRISPR and other biotech breakthroughs, as well as how to think about the potential risks of these revolutionary technologies. Listen on Spotify or iTunes.
So you want to be a trillionaire
“It is not easy to convey, unless one has experienced it, the dramatic feeling of sudden enlightenment that floods the mind when the right idea finally clicks into place. One immediately sees how many previously puzzling facts are neatly explained by the new hypothesis. One could kick oneself for not having the idea earlier, it now seems so obvious.
Get rich selling unpopular products
“The history of computing . . .
The (other) secret to Amazon’s success
“If you’re not stubborn, you’ll give up on experiments too soon. And if you’re not flexible, you’ll pound your head against the wall and you won’t see a different solution to a problem you’re trying to solve.” ―Jeff Bezos The state of the progress movement – Silicon Valley Examined 26 In this episode of the Silicon Valley Examined podcast, Robert Hendershott and Don Watkins discuss the origins of the progress movement, why it’s so exciting, and how Ingenuism fits in to it.
2021: Year In Review
“I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.” –David Bowie Elon - Silicon Valley Examined 24 In this episode of the Silicon Valley Examined podcast, Robert Hendershott, Don Watkins, and Yaron Brook wrap up the year with a discussion of Elon Musk. Is he a hero of progress or a villain? What can we learn from him about the nature of innovation? What does the culture's attitude toward him say about its attitude toward progress? Listen on Spotify or iTunes.
What FAANG could learn from Kodak
“Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible.” –Richard Feynman Inventing the Future - Keith Schacht and Don Watkins How do you spot tomorrow’s trends and opportunities—and how do you turn them into viable businesses? Don Watkins discusses that and much more with serial entrepreneur Keith Schacht.
How the stock market fuels exploration
“Progress is precisely that which rules and regulations did not foresee.” –Ludwig von Mises How to end the port crisis (w/ Yaron Brook) - Silicon Valley Examined 19 In this episode of Silicon Valley Examined, Robert Hendershott, Don Watkins, and special guest Yaron Brook discuss the port crisis. What caused it? And how can Ingenuism help us figure out a solution? They also delve into the value of a global supply chain and the importance of standardization in progress. Listen on Spotify or iTunes.
Markets Matter
“The Web as I envisaged it, we have not seen it yet. The future is still so much bigger than the past.” –Tim Berners-Lee Taxing Progress – Silicon Valley Examined 18 On the Silicon Valley Examined podcast, Robert Hendershott and Don Watkins discuss the so-called billionaire tax and how taxing unrealized capital gains could impact Silicon Valley. Listen on Spotify or iTunes. Markets Matter Don Watkins and Robert Hendershott Exploration leads to innovation.
Energy and Ingenuity
“Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes.” –Peter Drucker Energy Abundance Now - Silicon Valley Examined 15 On the Silicon Valley Examined podcast, Robert Hendershott and Don Watkins discuss Matt Yglesias's article "The Case for More Energy," the vital importance of dramatically expanding the availability of low-cost energy, and how an understanding of Ingenuist principles can help. Listen on Spotify or iTunes.
Investing in your life
“The most contrarian thing of all is not to oppose the crowd but to think for yourself.” —Peter Thiel Ingenuist Investing (w/ Yaron Brook) – Silicon Valley Examined 13 On the Silicon Valley Examined podcast, Robert Hendershott, Don Watkins, and special guest Yaron Brook discuss the role of investment in innovation. How can investment not only help launch new businesses—but spur the discovery of new ideas? Listen on Spotify or iTunes.
Artificial Ingenuity: AI through the lens of Ingenuism
“Exploration is the engine that drives innovation. Innovation drives economic growth. So let's all go exploring.” –Edith Widder The birth of Silicon Valley – Silicon Valley Examined 12 On the Silicon Valley Explored podcast, Robert Hendershott and Don Watkins discuss the origins of Silicon Valley. What can we learn from the early days of HP, Shockley, and Fairchild? Listen on Spotify or iTunes.
Innovation by design: Lessons from 3M
“Invention often occurs not because a person tries to be original, but because the person attempts to do something difficult. Necessity, the saying goes, is the mother of invention. I would add: not only necessity, but the sort of commitment that leads some people to put ‘unreasonable’ demands on themselves and their products.” –D.N. Perkins, The Mind’s Best Work More Progress Faster with James Pethokoukis and Don Watkins Why is progress important—and what’s holding it back?
ESSAY: The Failure Paradox
Ingenuism’s Winners (w/ Yaron Brook) - Silicon Valley Examined 10 On the Silicon Valley Explored podcast, Robert Hendershott, Don Watkins, and special guest Yaron Brook discuss Ingenuism’s winners. Which countries, industries, and companies have embraced Ingenuist principles—and won? Listen on Spotify or iTunes. The Failure Paradox By Don Watkins and Robert Hendershott “I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games.
Ingenuism: Ingenuism's Winners (w/ Yaron Brook)
44 min On the Silicon Valley Explored podcast, Robert Hendershott, Don Watkins, and special guest Yaron Brook discuss Ingenuism's winners. Which countries, industries, and companies have embraced Ingenuist principles--and won? Sign up for our newsletter at ingenuism.com. 44 min Top Podcasts In Technology
Don’t Block Blockchain
“Invention is the most important product of man’s creative brain. The ultimate purpose is the complete mastery of mind over the material world, the harnessing of human nature to human needs.”–Nikola Tesla Innovation in Education with Ray Girn and Matt Bateman How can education help promote human progress—and how can we promote progress in education?
Patents and progress
“The best teamwork comes from men who are working independently toward one goal in unison.” –James Cash Penney Why Progress Matters - Jason Crawford and Don Watkins What causes progress—and why should we care? Jason Crawford and Don Watkins discuss the crucial lessons to be learned from the history of human progress—and why taking that history for granted threatens our future prosperity. Jason Crawford is a former software engineering manager and tech startup founder.
Connection in Silicon Valley
“But by far the greatest obstacle to the progress of science and to the undertaking of new tasks and provinces therein is found in this—that men despair and think things impossible.” —Francis Bacon Climate, China, and COVID - Silicon Valley Examined 5 On the Silicon Valley Explored podcast, Robert Hendershott and Don Watkins discuss how Ingenuism can help us conquer climate challenges, China's tech crackdown, and calls for a new government agency to fight disease. Listen on Spotify or iTunes.
Connection and the Division of Labor
“There is nothing like dream to create the future.” –Victor Hugo Free Trade Makes Us Rich with Scott Lincicome Yaron Brook and Scott Lincicome discuss how free trade promotes progress and how industrial policy holds it back. Scott Lincicome is a senior fellow in economic studies. He writes on international and domestic economic issues, including international trade; subsidies and industrial policy; manufacturing and global supply chains; and economic dynamism.
Immigrating to Ingenuism
“Chance favors the connected mind.” ―Steven Johnson, Where Good Ideas Come from: The Natural History of Innovation Can money buy progress? On the Silicon Valley Explored podcast, Robert Hendershott and Don Watkins discuss China’s failure to buy its way to semiconductor dominance, the new space race, and the value of in-person connection. Listen on Spotify or iTunes.
Our filthy rich future
“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” –Alan Kay If progress is so important, why do we know so little about it? Tyler Cowen and Yaron Brook discuss why we need a science of progress studies, and some of the most important questions that science needs to answer. Tyler Cowen is a blogger, author, podcaster, and economist at George Mason University. His article "We Need a New Science of Progress" (co-authored with Patrick Collison) helped launch the progress studies movement.
Ingenuism and the Precautionary Principle
“If you think of [opportunity] in terms of the Gold Rush, then you’d be pretty depressed right now because the last nugget of gold would be gone. But the good thing is, with innovation, there isn’t a last nugget. Every new thing creates two new questions and two new opportunities.” –Jeff Bezos Silicon Valley and Risk Robert Hendershott and I just launched a new podcast segment. Each week, we’ll discuss and analyze the latest news from Silicon Valley.
What’s New about Ingenuism?
“The recipe for great work is: very exacting taste, plus the ability to gratify it.” —Paul Graham, Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age How the World Got Rich - Deirdre McCloskey and Yaron Brook Starting in 19th century, the Great Enrichment sparked unprecedented prosperity around the world. Yaron Brook talks to economist Deirdre McCloskey about what caused it--and why those lessons remain important to the future of progress.
If you don’t have time to fail, you don’t have time to succeed
“If we experience any failures or setbacks, we do not quickly forget them because they offend our self-esteem. Instead, we reflect on them deeply, trying to figure out what went wrong and discern whether there are any patterns to our mistakes. As we progress, we start to question some of the assumptions and conventions we have learned along the way. Soon, we begin to experiment and become increasingly active. At all points in the various moments leading to mastery, we attack with intensity.
Ingenuism and Venture Capital
“The Industrial Revolution . . . is often presented as a time of horror for working men. In fact it was the age, above all, in history of matchless opportunities for penniless men with powerful brains and imaginations, and it is astonishing how quickly they came to the fore.” -Paul Johnson, The Birth of the Modern This week we’re launching our new bi-weekly interview series. In this first episode, Yaron Brook and Robert Hendershott discuss the question: What is Ingenuism?
What’s the true value of Bitcoin?
“Technological progress has been one of the most potent forces in history in that it has provided society with what economists call a ‘free lunch,’ that is, an increase in output that is not commensurate with the increase in effort and cost necessary to bring it about.” Joel Mokyr, The Lever of Riches What’s the true value of Bitcoin? Robert Hendershott and Don Watkins Bitcoin is an example of what is possible in the 21st Century.
The Downside of Connection
“No one who has ever done anything really great or successful has ever done it simply because he was attracted by what we call a ‘reward’ or by fear of what we call a ‘punishment’....
What COVID teaches us about the future of progress
It’s easy to take progress for granted. The rule is that once countries pull onto the innovation highway, they stay on it. Sure, sometimes they hit traffic, other times they race forward, but the direction never changes: progress seems so automatic that we hardly ever question it. The COVID-19 pandemic would seem to justify our complacency. Less than a year after lockdowns radically altered our way of life, scientists had created multiple vaccines shockingly effective at quelling the disease.
Conquering Knowledge Loss
“Nothing like the Great Enrichment of the past two centuries had ever happened before. Doublings of income—mere 100% betterments in the human condition—had happened often, during the glory of Greece and the grandeur of Rome, in Song China and Mughal India. But people soon fell back to the miserable routine of Afghanistan’s income nowadays, $3 or worse. A revolutionary betterment of 10,000%, taking into account everything from canned goods to antidepressants, was out of the question.
Bubbles are good
“[T]he greatest tool we have for tackling our grand challenges is the human mind.” –Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler, Abundance: The Future is Better than You Think INSIGHT Bubbles are good Robert Hendershott Is Bitcoin a bubble? Tesla? Zoom? Everyone has an opinion, but nobody knows for sure. What we all know for sure is that bubbles are bad, right? Wrong. Bubbles are good. Yes, bubbles contain speculative excess.
The Miracle of the 21st Century
“[I]nnovation is itself a product, the manufacturing of which is a team effort requiring trial and error.” –Matt Ridley, How Innovation Works ESSAYS Thanks to everyone who posted feedback and questions in response to our essay, “Ingenuism: A New Theory of Innovation.” A few quick replies: “Good article, though I am not sure we have a good measure of economic activity since government spending is included in the GDP and tends to throw things off.” Response: GDP per capita is far from a perfect...
Ingenuism: A New Theory of Innovation
A new era of innovation? When COVID-19 hit, a disturbing fact loomed: historically, it has taken more than a decade on average to develop new vaccines. What most people didn’t learn until late 2020 was that cutting-edge mRNA technology had enabled scientists to develop an effective vaccine, not in decades or even years, but in two days.
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