Zero to One_ Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future ( PDFDrive )

American households were saving, at least they could expect to have money to
spend later. And if American companies were investing, they could expect to
reap the rewards of new wealth in the future. But U.S. households are saving
almost nothing. And U.S. companies are letting cash pile up on their balance
sheets without investing in new projects because they don’t have any concrete
plans for the future.
The other three views of the future can work. Definite optimism works when
you build the future you envision. Definite pessimism works by building what
can be copied without expecting anything new. Indefinite pessimism works
because it’s self-fulfilling: if you’re a slacker with low expectations, they’ll
probably be met. But indefinite optimism seems inherently unsustainable: how
can the future get better if no one plans for it?
Actually, most everybody in the modern world has already heard an answer to
this question: progress without planning is what we call “evolution.” Darwin
himself wrote that life tends to “progress” without anybody intending it. Every
living thing is just a random iteration on some other organism, and the best
iterations win.
Darwin’s theory explains the origin of trilobites and dinosaurs, but can it be
extended to domains that are far removed? Just as Newtonian physics can’t
explain black holes or the Big Bang, it’s not clear that Darwinian biology should
explain how to build a better society or how to create a new business out of