Moonshots, by their definition, live in that gray area between audacious projects and pure science fiction. Instead of mere 10 percent gains, they ai… - Peter Diamandis

In trying to make sense of this pessimism, Ridley, like Kahneman, sees a combination of cognitive biases and evolutionary psychology as the core of the problem. He fingers loss aversion — a tendency for people to regret a loss more than a similar gain — as the bias with the most impact on abundance. Loss aversion is often what keeps people stuck in ruts.

who needs soil when there’s water? The idea of growing food in water dates back, at least, to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. But hydroponics, the growing of food in a nutrient-rich solution, is a more modern development.

Greenblatt is not alone in this assertion. Many believe water is an issue of money and will be best solved locally, and without the aid of techie gizmos. It’s an opinion based on hindsight. The last century saw governments dithering while they searched for a high-tech, silver-bullet solution. Millions died in the interim, and the world is full of gadgets either unsuitable for the ruggedness of their deployment area or impossible to maintain because supply chains did not extend far enough.