American innovation is in trouble
By Fareed Zakaria
If you ask people in Silicon Valley what makes it work, they will talk about many things — the ability to fail, the lack of hierarchy, the culture of competition. One thing almost no one mentions is the government. And yet, the Valley’s origins are deeply tied to government support. The reason there were so many engineers in California in the 1950s and 1960s was because large defense companies had attracted them there. Most of the legendary start-ups that fueled the computer revolution — Fairchild Semiconductor, Intel — got off the ground largely because the military, and later NASA, would buy their products until they became cheap and accessible enough for the broader commercial market. GPS, the technology that now powers the information revolution, was developed for the military.
And then there was government funding for research, which is sometimes thought of simply as large grants to universities for basic science but often was far more ingenious. My favorite example comes from Walter Isaacson’s fascinating new book, “The Innovators.” In the 1950s, the U.S. government funded a massive project at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory, employing equal numbers of psychologists and engineers who worked together to find ways “that humans could interact more intuitively with computers and information could be presented with a friendlier interface.” Isaacson traces how this project led directly to the user-friendly computer screens of today as well as ARPANET, the precursor of the Internet.
Federal funding for basic research and technology should be utterly uncontroversial. It has been one of the greatest investments in human history. And yet it has fallen to its lowest level as a percentage of GDP in four decades.
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Americas "everything" is in trouble because of the government if you think about it!
Everything is relative. About 826 million Indians defecate in the open compared with 14 million in China per the World Health Organization.
America is way ahead of the hygienic curve.
Modi is great. I su ck his Indian di ck.
All this technology but we can't find three planes that disappeared with passengers. Yet we can track and drone kill bad guys without trial all over the world.
Federal funding for basic research and technology leading to weapons of destruction has increased. It has been one of the greatest investments in human history. It has risen to its highest level as a percentage of GDP in four decades.
We are not in a R&D but an implementation mode pertaining to the issue being discussed.
Just look at the stealth technology we have evolved to s noop on people and take them out.
Yet chokehold remains the weapon of choice for some in NYC. "Hands up Don't Shoot."
"I Can't Breathe."
Oh how far we have come. Yet miles to go before we sleep. Really? Really.
"I can't breathe" is a common saying in Pakistan. Since everyone there defecates in the open, well you can just imagine an open public sewer there. Pheeewww!
Seriously. Generally, private funding is gradually replacing government funding for R&D. Please add that up from income statements of companies and calc as % of GDP.
As an aside, Clinton Foundation raised $155 million this year for their causes. Just imagine. The boy from Arkansas! Who has now become a man. We hope!
At least he can now use Cuban cigars instead.
Four decades ago we had USSR and a space program. The former is all gone. The latter an exercise in futility. And after all Al Gore invented internet. What do we need R&D funding for?
India is so much larger and more advanced than Pakistan. Pakistan is a good country to defecate on.
Oh so true Lou. Pakistan is a great country to defecate on. I was there recently and everywhere I went, it smelled very very bad. So with the shortage of water and toilets there. I took a dump in the open street. In Pakistan it is common practice.
My goodness. I defecate all over Pakistan. It is allowed there. The Pakistan government knows that they are dirty Paki people with curry smell. So it is ok.
India is so much cleaner than Pakistan. As soon as you enter the border of Pakistan, you begin to cough because the curry poop oder is very overwhelming.
Oh come now. Let's be fair. At least the Paki government provides gas masks for such dirty Paki people poop smell.
Oh look today we have an abundance of Paki trolls. Not buying that.
Modi would never allow India to become a sewage like Pakistan. Poor Paki people. They are such dirty dogs.
Spot on @ Blue Saffrons 5:09 post! Boggles the mind that that plane could just disappear and STILL no sign of it anywhere!
I am from pakistan. Yes it is difficult in my country. It is very overwhelming smell. I shall get a VISA and leave Pakistan. Such a dirty country. I am ashamed.
Why do hindus from India smell like s hit? Is it the crap they eat or just the DNA? I am told the country is one big cesspool.
So true. This one guy from India works in my office and we have moved his cubicle to near the toilet. He smells sooo bad.
Sooo my boss tells me he is walking on a street in India and suddely he sees a person open the window and stuck his a zz out to s hit on the street below. No toilets in buildings.
A holy man walking by ate it up.
Why do Pakis smell like Blue Saffron's as.as?
Who knows, but what a rotten curry, Paki, smelly oder. Pheeewww!
In our office all Paki employees are segregated in the basement floor because they smell like camel poop.
As soon as the door of the plane shuts, these Indian passengers take their shoes off. Now, coupled with upper and lower body odor the air becomes unbearable but there is nowhere to escape . Soon the curry in the tiffin box will be opened and the smell will permeate the air also. It is enough to jump out of the airborne plane. But it is too late. They will chew betel nut and start spitting. The hindus will start defecating in the aisles. Gang raipe is next. And the journey has just begun.
I went to the movies with my wife and kids to watch "The Interview." We were sitting watching the movie eating popcorn. Then some other family from Pakistan sat in front of us. My kids got sickened from the Paki smell. We had to leave. I complained to the manager. But there was nothing that he could do.
So...if no toilets in India's buildings how do women p ee standing up through an open window with wind blowing in her direction.
@Howard. That is a sad story. I am sorry that happened. But Pakis will always stink. It is in their genetic make up. They cannot help it. God help them.
India Inc.
In a wink
Had a kink
And no toilet or sink
And became India sink
In a blink
With a nasty stink
Hinddoosz in the night
Raiping each other at first sight
Looking for babies with delight
Wondering in the night
What were the chances
Of shoving candles in their genitals without exchanging glances
Hinddoosz in the nighttttttt....
Doobie Doo Daaa Dooobie Daaa
Jhinga Bells Jhinga Bells
Jhinga all the way
Dashing through the Ganges
In a one cow open sleigh
O'er the sewage filled waters we go
Raiping all the way
Bells on rat tails ring
Making spirits shiver with plague
What fun it is to laugh and sing
A gang raiping song tonight
Oh, jingle bells, jhinga bells
Jhinga all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one buffalo open sleigh
Jhinga bells, jingle bells
Jhinga all the way
As the Indians gang raipe on the sleigh
Let us hope and pray that the Pakistani breed with other races to dilute their DNA and lessen their ugly B/O.
Modi used to live on a mango tree in India with monkeys. There he met @chri§§y who was eating fleas off ITS skin. Modi forced @chri§§y to give him a B J. in exchange for a banana. Modi reneged. @chri§§y shoved the strapped d ik up Modi's a zz. Bal Thackeray got born as a result. Hindus raipe each other to celebrate.
Dear God in Heaven,
Please allow us this day with less dirty Pakis in our mists. Give us strength so that the dirty Pakistani oder will not overwhelm us.
Amen
THE KEROSENE CULTURE IN INDIA::::
:::60% of men or 420 million men in India think that raiping and burning wife alive for dowry by spraying kerosene and lighting her up is acceptable.
::::95% of India does not have toilets or plumbing
::80% of hinddoous track to rail tracks to defecate in India
:::30% of raipes in India happen in bushes where women go to defecate and another 25% on rail tracks: