Dr.Traveler
Mathematician
- Aug 31, 2009
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If we wish to remain the most powerful economic engine on earth.
Problem here is that we weren't a world power until the Europeans knocked each other out with WWI. We didn't assume the position of World Leader until after WWII, at which point the USSR became the other dominant power using a completely opposing philosophy.
It's easy to look back at the 1890-1920's with rosy glasses, but the reality is it kinda sucked to be everyone who wasn't rich. Medical care and life expectancy was a joke, electric power was limited to the cities, guys like Tesla ended up getting railroaded by guys like Edison. Cronyism was the rule of the day. Miners lived in practical slave communities. Workers had terrible hours, poor pay, and unsafe jobs.
The problem is that the economy is seeing the same problem academics has seen for the last 50 years, namely we're getting to the point that massive innovation is fairly damn difficult, while it is far easier to specialize and improve. Gates and Jobs became rich, wealthy, and powerful for inventing new interfaces for existing technology and then hiring smart folks to work for them.
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