And why I think technological advancement is the only way to create real value and improve living standards for everyone.
TL;DR: Technology is the only way to make the pie bigger for everyone. Everything else is just redistribution.
Let me tell you a story about pies. Not because I particularly like pies, but because it’s the simplest way to explain why I’m so optimistic about technology.
Imagine you have a pie and four people to feed. You can split it equally - seems fair. Or you can split it based on merit, giving more to those who helped make it - also seems fair.
I’m not here to discuss how to split a pie, even though I do have my own opinions… That’s a very nuanced and complex topic.
I’m here to point out that regardless of how you split it, it’s still the same size pie.
Now, what happens when someone figures out how to make the pie 10x as big? Even if the distribution isn’t perfect, everyone gets more pie than before. That’s what technology does.
And this isn’t just theory. Let me give you some real numbers:
Take agriculture. We went from farming with a hoe and bulls to farming with automated tractors and advanced fertilizers, among other advancements.
That’s an 8x multiple on yield per hectare. And an -97.5% cut on hours per ton.
Even small improvements compound massively at scale. Here’s another example:
Say you build software that saves delivery drivers 30 minutes per week by optimizing routes. Sounds small, right? But with 675,000 drivers just between Amazon and UPS, that’s 16,200,000 hours saved yearly. Or a lifetime of work for 200 people.
This progress can hurt in the short term. When you make something more efficient, some people will lose their jobs. I’ve been there - I was recently laid off myself. It sucks, and I won’t pretend it doesn’t.
I don’t have a good solution for this.
I guess it’s the price we pay for progress?
Progress that has given us safer, more comfortable jobs. It has given us better healthcare & food. The ability to communicate with anyone, anywhere, instantly. And access to more knowledge than all libraries in history combined.
This isn’t just some abstract concept. This is why I work in tech. This is why I write code. It’s why I recently got into AI. This is why I remain optimistic despite all the negative news we see daily.
Because I truly believe that making the pie bigger is the only game worth playing. Everything else is just moving pieces around the board.
And if you’re reading this on a computer, phone, or tablet, living a life unimaginably better than your ancestors… well, you’re already living proof of why tech optimism works.
That’s it. Dad loves you, bye!
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