Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Inspiring read...

The countless meetings with absolute assholes who had no interest in learning about the Internet, the single most significant business innovation of their lifetimes.

What do you think will be the next significant business innovation of our lifetimes? While we're on the topic of luck and timing...




I think it's fairly likely that in the next 50 years, strong anti-aging therapeutics will become available. This could reshape business practices significantly: long term strategies would directly reward their practitioners.


My guess is teleportation or colonization of space, within a hundred years.


Open source hardware, ie: RepRap, most likely.


We had Printing, then Manufacturing came, and now Networking. Frankly I do not see any other significant business innovation coming. If there were to be any, I would hope we would see new methods that speed the process of finding new drugs (not narcotics).


"Frankly I do not see any other significant business innovation coming."

You have a severe lack of imagination. Consider that while there will be N business innovations in all, there will only be one that will be the last. So I'd say it's more likely there will be many more than no more.


In the article the "business innovation" was the Internet (computer networking). Innovation in such a magnitude wont happen again anytime soon.

That is the same magnitude of change that was brought by Printing and Manufacturing. Every other innovation was/is a byproduct of those advances.

But if you may can you please give an idea of the next significant business innovation?


It's bad form to ask him to defend his point when you're defending your own by reiteration. Why won't innovation in such a magnitude 'happen again anytime soon'?


Because disruptive, game-changing, mind-flipping innovations take years to be accepted. Only a few individuals will understand the potential impact, the rest won't see it or understand it if they witnessed it.

So maybe that "next big thing" is already here. Maybe you saw it, read about it here or heard a couple of nerds talking about it, but chances are you would not care for it, or appreciate it because you would not know it.

The next big thing is the unknown unknown and it takes years for people to comprehend it.


Maybe that (generally) unknown unknown is gene therapy? Look at the recent discoveries of communities with strong genetic HIV resistance.


"But if you may can you please give an idea of the next significant business innovation?"

You're asking me to predict the next significant business innovation as big as the Internet?!




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: