The Pebble and the Avalanche

Moshe Thumbnail
Current Revolutions in Business and Technology

by Dr. Moshe Yudkowsky,

author of The Pebble and The Avalanche: How Taking Things Apart Creates Revolutions

 

Tue, 2005-Oct-11, 07:31

Story Marker
Smart R&D Better Than Expensive R&D

"The skills and the process" are more important than the amount of money spent on R&D, according to the results of a survey published in the print edition (page A2) of today's Wall Street Journal.

This result might seem obvious, but in fact it's rather subtle. Many scientists, myself included, believe that undirected research brings unaticipated and very valuable results. For example, the invention of the Post-It note was the result of someone fooling around in the lab, not directed research.

I suspect the study focused on R&D for particular tasks, such as building an automobile, rather than forward-looking research.

To leave a comment, please fill out this form.

Comments are closed for this story.

Trackbacks are closed for this story.

[ 1 ]