Monday musing on the industrial substrate – 4/17/23

The world we live in today is built on top of an industrialized substrate that was created in the early 20th Century. From education, to business, to governance, we’ve been building on top of this substrate for over a hundred years without questioning it. And yet, as we continue to add on top of it, the cracks multiply. Where before the cracks weren’t so numerous, now they’re growing faster than can be corrected.

This actually creates an opportunity.

Innovation happens when we tear into the substrate to see what’s underneath. To do this, we need to look for cracks in the system. The more cracks, the more we can see what’s beyond.

Eventually, the substrate will become more cracks than anything. We’ll need to demolish it and build something else. What that something else will be is up to us — it will be up to the people who can see beyond the substrate.