Communications of the ACM
Fed Chairman: 'humanity's Capacity to Innovate' Has Never Been Greater
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke discussed "our collective tendency to overestimate the short-term effects of new technologies while underestimating their long-term potential" in a commencement speech at Bard College.
Credit: Flickr/Federal Reserve
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke in a Saturday commencement speech at Bard College in Massachusetts said innovation and information technology are fueling economic change. "Humanity's capacity to innovate and the incentives to innovate are greater today than at any other time in history," Bernanke says.
Progress is just beginning in biotechnology, medical treatment, communications, and clean energy, notes Bernanke, saying, "I'm sure that I can't imagine all of the possibilities, but historians of science have commented on our collective tendency to overestimate the short-term effects of new technologies while underestimating their longer-term potential."
Advances in communications technology expands the ability to innovate by easing collaboration, increasing access to information, and speeding scientific publication approval, he says.
"We live on a planet that is becoming richer and more populous, and in which not only the most advanced economies but also large emerging market nations like China and India increasingly see their economic futures as tied to technological innovation," Bernanke says.
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