Robin Hanson says U.S. inventions have become less alike over two centuries
sebkrier · x · 2026-07-21
Robin Hanson argues that over nearly two centuries, **U.S. inventions have become increasingly dissimilar**. According to the quoted passage, the trend shows up as: - fewer direct collisions between inventors, - more distance between neighboring inventions, - rising R&D investment per inventor, - increasing patent values, - weaker knowledge spillovers, and - declining research productivity. The post is a retweet of that thesis, framing it as evidence that innovation is becoming more specialized and harder to generate efficiently.
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