Statement

I believe we are headed towards an era of sameness – an era in which innovation by the human species alone is impossible because all humanly perceivable problems are solved. While, to some, the elimination of problems may seem to be a great success, I find it to be the most pressing dilemma of mankind. Entrepreneurship, the design of new stuff as a result of our innate empathy towards others, is what makes us human. To strip innovation and ingenuity out of the human equation is to strip the very thing that makes us unique as a species.

Three signals that point towards this predicament, the end of entrepreneurial practice, are identified: Knock-Off Products, Feature Companies, and Product-Enhancing Products. In the 20th Century we saw an abundance of innovation – the Personal Computer, the Pocket Calculator, the Xerox Machine. I argue that, made visible by these signals, the current landscape of innovation is driven by enhancing that which has already been innovated, as opposed to creating that which is new.

These signals are a visible cry for help, a sign that the practice of entrepreneurship is on it’s last leg. My thesis offers a speculative alternative to human innovation by inventing the “Dehumanized Entrepreneur,” a machine that aims to heroically aid mankind in entrepreneurial practice in order to raise dialogue around this predicament.