Stronger: Nobody can navigate. The complexity of the task of navigation exceeds what one human can do by many orders of magnitude and remains firmly out of the grasp of even the best corporations or governments. Moreover, it's getting harder, not easier.
Like the sarcastic laws of thermodynamics that end with "You can't get out of the game", we're on a wild ride, nobody is in control, and there isn't anything you can do about that fact.
(In truth, it has always been this way. Control over technology has always been an illusion. It's just that now that illusion is all up in your face and you can't ignore it.)
While I can accept the strong notion that no person can navigate, this does not map to navigation doesn’t happen. Smith's invisible hand ala co-evolution (and more appropriately natural selection) guides technology perhaps even more than economics or biology.
I want to spend more time reading the article because the suggestion to let it these curves guide investment and personal application of time and effort seems less than straightforward.
Indeed; the reason humans can't navigate is that one human's influence is dwarfed by the "invisible hand". (Which may or may not be exactly Adam Smith's "invisible hand", but there's certainly an "invisible hand" of one sort or another in play.)
(btw great comments above gents, voted them all up)
We crave efficiency, but always end up in local optima based on resource allocation limitations. Great business opportunities are creatively observed by sharp minds and unleashed by relentless entrepreneurship. There are social forces pushing towards lower cost, ease of access, higher functionality and always entertainment!
Stronger: Nobody can navigate. The complexity of the task of navigation exceeds what one human can do by many orders of magnitude and remains firmly out of the grasp of even the best corporations or governments. Moreover, it's getting harder, not easier.
Like the sarcastic laws of thermodynamics that end with "You can't get out of the game", we're on a wild ride, nobody is in control, and there isn't anything you can do about that fact.
(In truth, it has always been this way. Control over technology has always been an illusion. It's just that now that illusion is all up in your face and you can't ignore it.)