Humans and technology co-evolve. There is no stopping it. Subcultures can survive with little technology as long as other, early-adopter subcultures support them by trading with them. Markets furnish the freedom to choose to be Amish or to live on an Italian island, traditionally yet comfortably. Country size enhances this freedom to the extent that markets are more vigorous within a country than across countries. Amishness is a matter of degree: all curate which technology and how much technology to consume.
Kelly is an optimist. He believes technology emerges in response to problems, of which it solves more than it creates.
Kelly views innovation as a funnel. The existing state of technology suggests the next obvious steps to all who would listen. It is easy to invent a lightbulb once the technological conditions are ripe, and many do. What is hard to do is to see a project through from an idea to implementation. That is where the true genius of technological innovation lies.
