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>Think of all the examples of American innovation since the 1970s. How many examples are not in the tech sector? Um, I can think of thousands, but then again,

>Think of all the examples of American innovation since the 1970s. How many examples are not in the tech sector? Um, I can think of thousands, but then again, I'm not some moron PhD. How about all the innovation in the medical field? Better imaging technology like the fMRI has come about since the 1970s. How about the cervical cancer vaccine? How about Viagra? Flonaze? How about airbags? Anti-Lock brakes? BioDiesel? Cars are safer, more fuel efficient, more reliable, and all around better than they were in the 1970s. It's not up for debate. Innovation is still innovation, even if cars existed in the 1970s. By the same token, the cars coming out of detroit in the 1970s were way better than the Model T. Why? Innovation! On the energy front, we have new wind turbine designs. We have nuclear batteries. We have off-shore wind. We have more efficient CO2 scrubbers. We have LED lightbulbs and CFLs. We have hybrid drive trains in consumer vehicles. We have shipping barges harnessing wind-power through computer-controlled deployable sails. On the social innovations, we see that seeking help from a mental health specialist is no longer stigmatized. An entire generation is fighting to stay healthy despite a lifetime diet of high fructose corn syrup. People are attempting to return to the ways of buying locally and minimizing their impact. Women continue to advance towards career and earning equality with men. Long story short, Academic prattles on long and hard about nothing.

nagrom 16y ago
The key phrase is "American innovation". A lot (most?) of your examples come from outside of America, I think. I know a lot of medical imaging and vaccine research gets done in Europe, there's a lot of Nuclear design in the UK and Russia, a lot of the off-shore wind stuff is done in Europe, many of the automobile advances are German or Japanese. He may be engaging a little in hyperbole, but he does have a kernel of a point. Dismissing him because of his job is a little harsh.
- redrobot5050 16y ago
  Do they? I know the American Healthcare system funds a lot of medical research that doesn't happen in countries with socialized medicine. I'm not trying to make a ideological point over one system being better over another, but drug research, especially, seems to be funded by the 'vanity market' of consumer brand name drugs. And our (arguably strong) patent system (while broken IMO) provides a great incentive for developing and repurposing drugs. Medical Imaging is a field of research that is global. I only know what is being with people I've worked with in the past. Vehicles, well, even if the technology was developed outside the United States, our market was the motivation for the innovation. Audi invented "Shift Lock" for automatic transmissions back in the 80s because they had the same problem in the U.S. that Toyota does now -- consumers claiming of cars that just accelerate forward and cannot be stopped. Shift Lock seemed to have put a stop to that. As for dismissing him because of his job, well, he brought it up 'My dad was a professor and I'm a professor, but I'm in poorer than my father ever was". The first thing I learned as the child of a PhD is that if you want to actually have money to do things like travel, go on vacations, and afford college for your children, its that you don't get a PhD unless its in engineering or law. I went with engineering but only got a master's. And it being my last week of finals, in my last semester for my master's, I'm really, really tired of hearing academics drone on with little actual grasp of reality. I apologize for the display.
  - nagrom 16y ago
    I can sympathise with it being exam week. Don't worry about it. I think that the problem that you have with academics is that to be good at research you must concentrate on that, and that alone. Teaching gets you nothing, so the good researchers tend to put as little effort into it as possible and the people who spend their time worrying about teaching are left behind on the research front. Not always, but often. So, if someone's interested in talking to you as a student, then they're more than likely poor at research or really not interested in you. If you can find the research-oriented staff on your campus and talk to them on their own terms, I guarantee that your opinion of 'academics' will change. You'll find a lot of interesting, dedicated people who do wonders on shoe-string budgets, working long hours on things that they find fascinating. Of course, these people tend not to get permanent jobs because of the amount of hideous politics that abounds in the upper echelons of academia...

nagrom 16y ago

The key phrase is "American innovation". A lot (most?) of your examples come from outside of America, I think. I know a lot of medical imaging and vaccine research gets done in Europe, there's a lot of Nuclear design in the UK and Russia, a lot of the off-shore wind stuff is done in Europe, many of the automobile advances are German or Japanese. He may be engaging a little in hyperbole, but he does have a kernel of a point. Dismissing him because of his job is a little harsh.

redrobot5050 16y ago
Do they? I know the American Healthcare system funds a lot of medical research that doesn't happen in countries with socialized medicine. I'm not trying to make a ideological point over one system being better over another, but drug research, especially, seems to be funded by the 'vanity market' of consumer brand name drugs. And our (arguably strong) patent system (while broken IMO) provides a great incentive for developing and repurposing drugs. Medical Imaging is a field of research that is global. I only know what is being with people I've worked with in the past. Vehicles, well, even if the technology was developed outside the United States, our market was the motivation for the innovation. Audi invented "Shift Lock" for automatic transmissions back in the 80s because they had the same problem in the U.S. that Toyota does now -- consumers claiming of cars that just accelerate forward and cannot be stopped. Shift Lock seemed to have put a stop to that. As for dismissing him because of his job, well, he brought it up 'My dad was a professor and I'm a professor, but I'm in poorer than my father ever was". The first thing I learned as the child of a PhD is that if you want to actually have money to do things like travel, go on vacations, and afford college for your children, its that you don't get a PhD unless its in engineering or law. I went with engineering but only got a master's. And it being my last week of finals, in my last semester for my master's, I'm really, really tired of hearing academics drone on with little actual grasp of reality. I apologize for the display.
- nagrom 16y ago
  I can sympathise with it being exam week. Don't worry about it. I think that the problem that you have with academics is that to be good at research you must concentrate on that, and that alone. Teaching gets you nothing, so the good researchers tend to put as little effort into it as possible and the people who spend their time worrying about teaching are left behind on the research front. Not always, but often. So, if someone's interested in talking to you as a student, then they're more than likely poor at research or really not interested in you. If you can find the research-oriented staff on your campus and talk to them on their own terms, I guarantee that your opinion of 'academics' will change. You'll find a lot of interesting, dedicated people who do wonders on shoe-string budgets, working long hours on things that they find fascinating. Of course, these people tend not to get permanent jobs because of the amount of hideous politics that abounds in the upper echelons of academia...