Nowadays we have developed the most complex society humanity has ever known. And we have maintained it up to this point. But technological innovation evolves like any other aspect of complexity: the investments in research and development grow increasingly complex and reach diminishing returns. That is the point where the level of profits - or benefits - gained is less than the amount of money or energy invested . Therefore, we cannot expect continue forever to spend more and more on technological innovation when we’ve reached the point of diminishing returns. This is why Joseph Tainter, author of the book “The Collapse of Complex Societies ” argues that our system of innovation is going to change very significantly over the next decades. By the end of the century, it will not be anything like what we know today. It will have to change deeply. And it’s likely that innovation is not going to be able to solve our problems as readily as it has done to this point.