One would certainly not want to argue with the statement that many people are incompetent, or at least not very good, at what they're paid to do. On the other hand, much of that alleged stupid and incompetent behavior turns out to be not stupid or incompetent at all if one spends a little time and effort on reflecting upon it. The opening example of the article, the Department of Education requiring applications to be sent by registered mail, is a perfect example. Why won't they accept an application unless it's sent by registered mail? If there is ever any kind of challenge, possibly resulting in litigation, over the way they handled an application, they have to have a complete paper trail of the process. An important part of that paper trail are the details of when and by whom the application was received. It would be a sign of incompetence on their part to accept an application that was not sent by registered mail.
I come across examples like this all the time. I find it amusing how often alleged stupidity and incompetence reveals more about the accuser than about the accused.
The discussion of sterility and sclerosis seems reasonable to me. On the subject of stagnation and repetition, I find that my perception is diametrically opposed to what the author of the book and Peter Thiel say. I am a baby boomer, and I am absolutely blown away by things like 3D printers and rocket boosters returning from space and being reused, not to mention the possibility of quantum computing. As far as the arts are concerned, I believe the difference between the olden days and today is that today, there is way more of everything rather than less. This causes an odd distortion of perception. In the 1960s, you could easily name a few progressive bands, musicians, movies, etc., because there were so few. Today, the stuff you can find on the Internet is vast, but there are no few big names to stand out. Or, more precisely, there are a few big names, but that's the repetitive stuff that the author laments. The new, creative, progressive stuff doesn't have those. Go on the Internet, you'll be surprised!
I come across examples like this all the time. I find it amusing how often alleged stupidity and incompetence reveals more about the accuser than about the accused.