Ethan Mollick asks: could AI bring a second 'Special Century' of growth?
emollick · x · 2026-11-09
Ethan Mollick shares his favorite optimistic AI take, drawn from the pessimistic, non-AI book Rise and Fall of American Growth. The book argues 1870–1920 saw a one-time explosion in living standards: no toilets, city plumbing, or central heating in 1870, all solved within 50 years, followed by modern medicine, air travel, and telecom. Excerpts note Boston banned baths without a doctor's order in 1844, and Muncie, Indiana had fewer than two dozen full bathrooms in 1890 versus 75% of homes with running water by 1925. Since the 1970s, no lifestyle change of similar scale has occurred, and the book doubted another boom. Mollick's AI optimism: "But what if we do?" — and how do we make it go right?
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