Why Useless Research Builds the Future of Computing

Against Usefulness

I invest in useful companies, yet I believe the next breakthroughs come from stubbornly useless research. Visiting the Folk Computer lab, I saw programming return to a human, physical scale, defying the screen-centric monoculture of the Bay Area. This lineage, from Xerox PARC to Dynamicland, proves that paradigms shift when independent thinkers work against immediate utility, funded by patrons who value long-term vision over market trends.

"Usefulness, they had learned, is a trap: the moment a prototype becomes useful, its makers start answering to present users and stop pointing at the future."