# Technology doesn’t solve everything but it does generate growth which arguably does solve everything The dynamics of the world are completely different when the pie is getting bigger (and people perceive that it’s doing so) and when the pie is staying the same size and shrinking. The pie here being the opportunities and resources available to people. The (valid) criticism of techno-optimists is that technology can’t directly solve many pressing human issues like justice, equality, morality, love, etc. However, a growing pie enables people to play non-zero sum and infinite games.[^1] Growth gives people hope that they can succeed while acting morally and ethically. People often treat each other terribly in situations with very little [[Slack - concept]] - growth creates that slack. Growth can’t eliminate inequality directly (I don’t think anything can) but it creates real social dynamism, which is probably the closest you can get: situations for people to shift around on the social ladder. Therefore, second order technology actually does solve everything, but not in the way people think it does. ## Questions ## Related * [[Axiom - A world with more growth and wonder would be preferable to the one we have now]] * [[Low Hanging fruit theory of stagnation]] * [[In world of low growth people's opinions matter more]] ## References * [[Stubborn Attachments]] * [[Melanie Mitchell on Artificial Intelligence — EconTalk — Overcast]] * [[Is Economic Growth a Moral Imperative? (Lecture)]] [^1]:Yes, people can do those things without a growing pie, but it is *much harder* and it becomes more of a local phenomenon. <!-- #stub --> [Web URL for this note](http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/Technology+doesn’t+solve+everything+but+it+does+generate+growth+which+arguably+does+solve+everything) [Comment on this note](http://via.hypothes.is/http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/Technology+doesn’t+solve+everything+but+it+does+generate+growth+which+arguably+does+solve+everything)