Welcome to Insight Axis, where I make connections between practical philosophy, technology, books, science, and more. I’m Zan - follow me on Twitter (X)and Substack.
In "The Fabric of Reality", David Deutsch observes:
"Problem-solving, after all, is a process that takes place entirely within human minds... The fact is that all our problems and solutions are located within ourselves, having been created by ourselves."
Essentially, he is saying that human beings create the problems they solve.
I want to show you that technology also creates the problems it solves.
This might seem backwards, because we tend to think that we develop new technologies to solve problems.
But I want to show you a different perspective.
New technologies are innovated and iterated, and this subsequently presents us with new sets of problems to solve.
Definitions of Technology and Problems
Let'd define a technology as any human-created tool. Often, we create tools without knowing what their full capabilities are. Some people can see the true potential of a technology more clearly than others: take Steve Jobs, who essentially described the functionality of ChatGPT in this incredible video, where he talks about the potential of personal computers.
A new technology pushes the capability of what humans can achieve. When we (or Steve Jobs) see "problems" to be solved with a technology, it's because the technology isn't being used to its full extent. Therefore, the mere existence of the technology creates the problems. Let me explain with an example: Amazon.
The evolution of Amazon
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon as an online bookstore in 1995. But in 1988, it wasn't a "problem" for me that I couldn't buy books online - I got my books the usual way at a bookstore, and never thought it was inconvenient. However, it was a problem in 1989 - because the internet was invented in 1989. Until the dawn of the internet, the problem of "buying books online" could not exist. The internet literally created that problem. Bezos noticed a problem to be solved, but only because of his knowledge of the capability of the internet. He filled a problem space that existed for 6 years.
See, the internet allowed for the transfer of information across a network of computers. If you can transfer information, you can transfer money. And if you can transfer information and money, you can transact and deliver books using existing physical infrastructure. That's how Amazon came about. Jeff Bezos solved the problem by fulfilling the capability of the technology. Before the internet, the problem Amazon solved didn't really exist.
Visualising the paradigm
A new technology pushes the boundary of capability. A "problem space" is created when the technology has not reached its boundary of capability.
The figure above shows a snapshot of what the process might look like at fixed moments in time, with a single technology. These concentric circles also help to explain why some narrow technologies plateau after time. Take the smartphone, for example. When the iPhone was first released in 2007, there was a huge "problem space" that it created. Every year, each new generation of iPhone made leaps in closing that gap. But as we continue to iterate the technology of “hand-held, rectangular, wireless mobile devices”, the innovation plateaus as we reach the edge of the problem space. 15 years ago, there was no debate that a newer iPhone model was meaningfully better. Today, the difference between iPhone 14 and 15 is not that obvious, and we see more innovation in wearable technology than we do in the iPhone (credit to
for writing such a great piece on Apple).Taking a big picture view
The sum of real life is much more complex. We don't have just one technology, we have several. And they're all improving at different rates. So to make our depiction more accurate, I invite you to visualise the figure above as a set of 2 concentric, 3D spheres. If the 2D spheres only represented 1 technology, the 3D spheres represent all the technologies we have, combined. Both the 3D spheres are continuously expanding, the inner one never quite reaching the outer one.
Closing thoughts
Perhaps, the outer sphere is growing at an even faster rate than the inner sphere.
As we become more technologically capable, our potential increases faster than our capability to fulfil it.
We are very much at the beginning of infinity.
Recommended reading from Substack:
🐻
, on a tangent to my essay, asks what we should actually do if we fulfil our unlimited potential.🧐
takes a deep dive into Epictetus’ stoicism.🤣
humours us with 7 habits of highly ineffective people.🪨
tells us the dangers and limitations of trying to be resilient.🤓
perfectly captures the paradox of the Dunning-Kruger effect (one of my favourite effects of all time)
Recommended reading beyond Substack:
The Mountain is You: Turning Self-Sabotage into Self-Mastery - Brianna Wiest
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I learn from my readers, so leave a comment with your thoughts
referring to the differences between iPhone 14 and 15 its like PS 02/08 extended, I, like many graphics designers, stopped buying them because they only add a few gradients, brushes, which could be downloaded from the Internet. 13 X Pro and 15 are not available on Amazon/USA . You see it honestly... I stopped being crazy about new things a long time ago... it often turned out that newer operating systems, for example, were worse... phones too...)
my best wishes )
Well put! Really enjoyed the visuals too, I think that’s a great way to look at the problem creation cycle