Paul Graham would argue that since human desires are unlimited, we will never reach a point of not having any problems left to solve. This may be true. But... The question is what if we run out of SOLVABLE problems. There are sooo many extremely important problems that humanity has (housing, transportation, food/water, education inflation, medical) that can't currently be solved due to either barriers to entry or mostly due to government regulation.<p>In fact, I think we're starting to reach a plateau in the last 10 and the coming 10 years. With the exception of medical science and the entertainment industry, I feel there hasn't been much meaningful innovation that changes consumers lives. Sure, we have google maps and millions of apps, but honestly, 10 years ago, I didn't have any problems finding my way around the road, even if I had to draw out a map by hand (lol). Today, Transportation is still at the same speeds and costs, housing costs even more, medical insurance is everybit as expensive, etc.<p>The most dire forms of innovation needed by humanity today, are at the bottom of maslow's heirarchy of needs: shelter, food, water, and by necessity: transportation and medical insurance. These areas are not being worked on, due to the above reasons i mentioned.