Sam Altman says the modern corporation, not technology, was the Industrial Revolution’s key invention
garrytan · x · 2026-07-26
Sam Altman argues that the modern corporation, not a technology, was the Industrial Revolution’s most important invention.
- He says corporations created a new legal entity that wasn’t just a person or a state.
- The key breakthroughs were incentive alignment, limited liability, and the ability to pool capital at scale.
- In his framing, those changes let people build things far beyond what family businesses could do.
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