Moore’s Law

Moore’s Law turns 50.  Amazing.  It reads, ““Moore’s law” is the observation that, over the history of computing hardware, the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit has doubled approximately every two years.”

Cool stuff. But the consequences for Moore’s Law aren’t just in computing power. The Wall Street Journal had an editorial that drove home a larger often unnoticed point about Moore’s Law.

Moore’s Law has always induced de-massification: giant mainframe computers become smartwatches, giant vertically-integrated organizations are defeated by what Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds has dubbed an “Army of Davids.”

Rigid command-and-control structures in every walk of life, from corporations to governments to education, become vulnerable to competition by adaptive and short-lived alliances and confederacies. Now that process is going to attack every corner of society.

That is also America on steroids.  Capitalistic creative destruction.  Enablement of individual liberty.  The ability for two people to interact on a trusted peer to peer network to get something done with no centralized authority.  Sounds like the blockchain.

Professor Reynolds is right.  The internet does create a potential new “David” everyday.  Venture capitalist Fred Wilson once commented, “The internet army is a pretty big army.”  Big monolithic companies and structures may win in the short run, but in the long run the war will be won by tech enabled individuals acting in their own best self interest.

If we look at economics, the classical economists put their faith in the rational person trying to maximize their own utility.  Behavioral and Keynesian economists see flaws in that assumption.  But Moore’s Law says the classical school will win.  Moore’s Law enables Coase Theorem to work in everything.

Republican candidates will gather in New Hampshire this weekend.  What they say, and the things that are discussed will be meaningless over 500 days from now when America votes.  I am totally sick of the permanent campaign.  I am not concerned with Hillary’s trip to Chipotle.  I am only concerned about how candidates from each side will shrink the size and scope of government and let people be free to choose.

Instead of spending money campaigning, candidates should be studying up on Moore’s Law and figuring out how government should be configured to enable America’s Army of David’s.  Freedom and individual liberty was a great concept in 1776.  Technology can make it happen in ways we never thought of in 2016.