Bob La Quey wrote:
My reasons are simple. The USA has only a recent history
(roughly since WW II, if one neglects the political giants of
the revolution) of serious interest in intellectual issues.
I think we have a tendency to look back shamefully on our own history,
but I don't believe that this is in any way true. To the extent that the
USA is a young country, perhaps it hasn't been focused on intellectual
issues for very long, but I'm not sure that is much of a demonstration
of anything. Europe had a pretty rough history when it came to
intellectual pursuits during the dark ages (certain pursuits were going
on, but for the most part....), but it still managed to vault ahead of
China, the subcontinent and the middle east, all of whom had a much
better track record. Sometimes a long track record of doing things a
certain way isn't an asset.
What particular advantages does the USA have in this game?
A few big advantages.
- The USA actually has a pretty big population
- The USA also has the largest immigrant population (and that's just
counting the legal ones) of any country
- The USA has a rich (in the economic sense) and thriving
entrepreneurial market
- The USA has strong computer science educational institutions (aside
from the University of Waterloo they pretty much own the top schools)
- The USA has more people, particularly children, with ubiquitous access
to computers than any country I can think of
- The USA has a declining currency (makes local labor cheaper)
- The USA can always rob the really good programmers from Canada if they
get desperate. ;-)
Now, many of these advantages will wear away with time. Indeed, I expect
that over time that a lot of the regional advantages that exist all
around the world will erode and disappear over time. I don't see much in
the way of prescription for the US becoming irrelevant any time soon.
BTW. This is not a new thought on my part. During the
mid 70's while at Princeton I had a number of discussions
along these lines with Swadesh Mahajan, an Indian, now
a research physicist at the University of Texas Institute
for Fusion Studies. Much of what has happened since then
has tended to reinforce my earlier view
You mean the rise of software developers from India and Europe during
the 80's? ;-) (I note that Swadesh is still in the US ;-)
--Chris
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