What about "creative destruction?" Part of the process is resources being diverted to shit that goes nowhere. Eventually the people who made that shit go out of business and then go to work on something else (and hopefully for them, this time, it doesn't suck).
I suspect the author's point is that lately there is much more destruction and less creativity, but he doesn't state it explicitly or even do a very good job of implying it. In fact, this almost reads like a critique of basic capitalism. Certainly the ratio of expensive but worthless shit to good and useful stuff seems headed up. I agree that it is. However the boom-bust cycle is a feature of capitalism, not something you set about to correct. The author doesn't propose any solution here, which is convenient. If he had, he would have come to the sudden realization: Aha! There isn't one.
Is Instagram worth $1B? Definitely not. But neither is Facebook worth $100B, or whatever made-up number they're valued at these days. Evaluating the value of ideas is not an easy task. Capitalism arrives at a solution eventually, but no one ever said it was efficient about it.
(Okay, lots of people say that, but they're deluded assholes.)
I suspect the author's point is that lately there is much more destruction and less creativity, but he doesn't state it explicitly or even do a very good job of implying it. In fact, this almost reads like a critique of basic capitalism. Certainly the ratio of expensive but worthless shit to good and useful stuff seems headed up. I agree that it is. However the boom-bust cycle is a feature of capitalism, not something you set about to correct. The author doesn't propose any solution here, which is convenient. If he had, he would have come to the sudden realization: Aha! There isn't one.
Is Instagram worth $1B? Definitely not. But neither is Facebook worth $100B, or whatever made-up number they're valued at these days. Evaluating the value of ideas is not an easy task. Capitalism arrives at a solution eventually, but no one ever said it was efficient about it.
(Okay, lots of people say that, but they're deluded assholes.)