Life & Arts

Author Robert Bryce: Why Thinking Smaller Will Bring the Future Faster

KUT 90.5 | By David Brown,

Published May 16, 2014 at 8:19 AM CDT

What do transistors, lithium batteries and AK-47s have in common?

Each one of those inventions fast-forwarded human history. They and many more, argues Austin-based author Robert Bryce, are examples of a trend in nature and society toward making things, faster, cheaper and – Bryce argues – better.

Bryce's new book is called "Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper: How Innovation Keeps Proving the Catastrophists Wrong." He spoke to Texas Standard host David Brown.

Download an extended version of this conversation for free on iTunes in the Texas Standard podcast.

Robert Bryce will be at BookPeople on May 17 at 5 p.m.

Tags

Life & Arts Author Interviews

David Brown

David entered radio journalism thanks to a love of storytelling, an obsession with news, and a desire to keep his hair long and play in rock bands. An inveterate political junkie with a passion for pop culture and the romance of radio, David has reported from bases in Washington, London, Los Angeles, and Boston for Monitor Radio and for NPR, and has anchored in-depth public radio documentaries from India, Brazil, and points across the United States and Europe. He is, perhaps, known most widely for his work as host of public radio's Marketplace. Fulfilling a lifelong dream of moving to Texas full-time in 2005, Brown joined the staff of KUT, launching the award-winning cultural journalism unit "Texas Music Matters."

See stories by David Brown

Emily Donahue

Emily Donahue is a former grants writer for KUT. She previously served as news director and helped launch KUT’s news department in 2001.

See stories by Emily Donahue