"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." Bernard Shaw
> I would like that quote more if it read 'Therefore all innovation'
I feel that progress implies innovation. Shaw's quote was meant to be general and universal, applying to crazy inventors as well Women who wanted to vote, and people of color who wanted equal rights. All of these people probably seemed unreasonable to their peers at one point.
I have always thought that quote was ridiculous. What is unreasonable about noticing an improvement can be made in your surroundings, and endeavouring to make it?
There is a grain of truth I suppose, vis-a-vis humanity's general restlessness, fixing what ain't broke, etc, but I think that this generalisation that anyone who isn't perfectly happy and satisfied with the exact present state of things is "unreasonable" is not true at all.
> What is unreasonable about noticing an improvement can be made in your surroundings, and endeavouring to make it?
I guess if the Steve Jobs aquarium urban legend didn't sound unreasonable, you probably have the silicon valley mindset. It's really easy to think of the current state of things and to feel that everything done up to now is 'reasonable'; especially if you live in a really progressive, techno-friendly place like Silicon Valley. You need to know the historical context from the perspective of an average non-technical person in places that aren't as open minded and progressive. One example would be an average person wondering why people wasted their time making unreliable experimental horseless carriages when clearly horses were superior. I also can't help but think of the author of Gulliver's Travels making fun of people experimenting with electricity.
Being dissatisfied isn't what was considered unreasonable. Thinking that changing the world is easier than changing your expectations is what is considered unreasonable. From a frequentist statistical point of view, that is true. But some people are outliers who are able to bend the world to their will.
