The computer revolution has failed to unleash an economy-wide surge in technological progress of the sort associated with the great paradigm-shifting inventions of the past.

ECONOMIST: Productivity on stilts

Bringing higher education to the masses also comes paradigm-shifting challenges.

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The golden age of American productivity growth followed what is called the second industrial revolution, in 1860-1900, which yielded a cluster of genuinely paradigm-shifting inventions: electric power, the internal combustion engine, modern industrial chemistry and telecommunications.

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Mr. Obama himself has led the charge in shifting from a "Global War on Terror" toward a law-enforcement paradigm, continuing, for example, to press for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Little to celebrate

Secretary Weinberger will also be remembered for the seminal role he played in shifting the national paradigm from one of deliberate vulnerability to ballistic missile attack to one in which anti-missile defenses are part of a comprehensive homeland security posture.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Caspar W. Weinberger, R.I.P.