Rapid change is a defining feature of modern life: change in the ways we communicate, the ways we work, and even in who we think we and others are (our identities). Social scientists recognize positive and negative consequences of change. Some see the breakdown of traditions and institutions as leading to dark times of exploitation and bureaucratic quagmire, while others see modern forms of society that allow freedom and individualism.

In 2025, three men (Joel Moky, Philippe Aghio, and Peter Howitt) won the Nobel prize in economic science for their research into the effect of technological change on economic growth. Their work highlights the roles innovations play in sustained economic growth. Moky showed that innovation requires a culture that values science, learning, and experimentation; absence of any one of these conditions causes slow or even failed economic growth. Aghio and Howitt built on Joseph Schumpeter's concept of creative destruction, which suggests innovations destroy older forms of technology and thereby stimulate economic growth--such as how cellphones destroyed landline telephones and stimulated innovation in all aspects of the cell phone world.

Moky explained where innovation comes from (knowledge and institutions) while Aghio and Howitt demonstrate how innovation drives growth (creative destruction). For these economists, sustained economic growth is a fragile system powered........

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