When did ‘innovation’ stop being a dirty word? How does progress occur?
The eighteenth century embraced the idea of progress; the nineteenth century had evolution; the twentieth century had growth and then innovation. Our era has disruption, which, despite its futurism, is atavistic. It’s a theory of history founded on a profound anxiety about financial collapse, an apocalyptic fear of global devastation, and shaky evidence.
More on ‘disruption’, and the power of a tidy narrative, from Jill Lepore at the New Yorker.