Working Paper
Why we confuse optimization with progress
It's 2026. The flying cars never came. The Mars colonies don't exist. The subways we take to work date from the 19th century, while we send cat pictures on our smartphones. The question is: Why have we stopped thinking truly new thoughts?
This paper analyzes why we confuse optimization within existing paradigms with real progress — and why the next era of innovation requires systemic thinking and emergent complexity.
Why faster chips and bigger models don't create new paradigms
How path dependencies prevent real innovation
Intelligence arises from interaction, not instruction
Patterns over mechanisms, context over content