Perhaps it is the result of years of challenging students in Oxford tutorials, but my friends sometimes describe me as counter-suggestible – too inclined to point out weaknesses even in well presented arguments for motherhood and apple pie. So it is an unusual experience for me to leave a debate persuaded by both sides.
But that was my reaction last week to a discussion at Columbia University’s Center on Capitalism and Society. Both protagonists are professors at Northwestern University in Illinois. In one corner was Robert Gordon, famous for his pessimistic view of the technological future. In the other was Joel Mokyr, the pre-eminent modern economic historian of technology.
Prof Gordon argued that in the century from 1870 to 1970, technological progress advanced at a pace that is unprecedented and probably unrepeatable. Several transformational technologies were implemented simultaneously – electricity, motorised transport, plumbing and sanitation.