Stop Stealing Dreams (what is school for?) - Seth Godin
Stop Stealing Dreams (what is school for?) - Seth Godin
Stop Stealing Dreams (what is school for?) - Seth Godin
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20. Life in the post-institutional future<br />
In Civilization, h<strong>is</strong> breakthrough book about the ascent (and fall) of Western<br />
civilization, Niall Ferguson makes the case that four hundred years of Western<br />
dominance was primarily due to six institutions that were built over time—not<br />
great men, or accidents of weather or geography, but long-lasting, highly<br />
leveraged institutional advantages that permitted us to grow and prosper.<br />
Competition, the scientific method, property rights, medicine, consumption, and<br />
jobs were all brand new ideas, put into place and then pol<strong>is</strong>hed over time. The<br />
result of th<strong>is</strong> infrastructure was the alignment of institutions and outputs that<br />
enabled us to live in the world we take <strong>for</strong> granted today.<br />
The industrial age <strong>is</strong> the most obvious example. Once the template was set <strong>for</strong><br />
productivity-enhancing, profit-creating factories, the work of millions could be<br />
coordinated and wealth would be created.<br />
The next century offers fewer new long-lasting institutions (we’re seeing both<br />
organized religion and the base of industry fading away), to be replaced instead<br />
with micro-organizations, with individual leadership, with the leveraged work of<br />
a small innovative team changing things far more than it ever would have in the<br />
past. The six foundational elements are taken <strong>for</strong> granted as we build a new<br />
economy and a new world on top of them.