Abundance

by Ezra Klein

A regrettable feature of history is that progress often requires the focusing mechanism of disaster. Penicillin took a world war, and mRNA vaccines took a plague. The Federal Reserve was created only after a string of financial disasters, culminating in the Panic of 1907. The tragedy of the Great Depression allowed for the boldness of the New Deal. The Nazi domination of Europe galvanized the creation of the Office of Scientific Research and Development. The Soviet Union’s successful launch of Sputnik in 1957 moved Washington to create the Advanced Projects Research Agency, later renamed DARPA, which contributed to the invention of the personal computer, GPS, and drone technology. It also pushed the US to expand NASA and eventually launch the Apollo program. Again and again in American history, we seem to be at our very best when things are at their very worst. This is a depressing thought.