Joining a thread already populated by Steyn, Derbyshire, and Goldberg, I feel a bit like, well, like me stepping onto the court with the Lakers. (Or more accurately, a good team.) But this debate about which period saw more innovation reminds me of a discussion we have frequently in the sitcom business. Discussion goes like this: “What if we had Jim do X?” “Dick Van Dyke did that.” “Well, it’s hard to come up with 22 fresh ideas a year.” “Dick Van Dyke did 36 a year, and Carl Reiner wrote most of them alone.” At which point, I either go lie down or point out that Carl Reiner and company had the enormous advantage of going first. That is, when there had previously been no smart sitcoms about a working man and his marriage, all the ideas are new. So, too, with technology then — the invention of the airplane is an immeasurable improvement over no airplane. The Stealth fighter is also a gigantic leap, but it’s measured against previous airplanes, not the complete absence of them, so it can’t really compete statistically. Put in math terms, add one to one and you’ve achieved 100% growth — add one to five and it’s only 20%.
And now I feel like Kobe’s about to take me to the hole.