Concorde, nuclear power and Minitel took three different paths. What can they tell us about Europe’s next technological bets?Concorde, nuclear power and Minitel. AI-generated IllustrationI’ve spent the last week walking the streets of Marseille, indulging in my long-desired vacation. My routine was simple and mostly included booking tables at local spots, open for unapologetically short hours. A sense of urgency is a funny concept when applied anywhere in southern Europe. Born & raised in a southern European city, I can really say that.At the Airbnb where I am staying, the skyline is surprisingly busy. The dense, almost panoptical view makes me think about an interesting thing. I wonder whether the atmosphere that I would describe as “clinically relaxed” was different in the past.France in the 1970s was just peak. Unlike today, it was leaping ahead on a bunch of different tracks where...