This is a simple function of the number of tinkerers available. Any ML project I've worked on has been a lot of tinkering - not unlike the sort of craftsmanshi

This is a simple function of the number of tinkerers available. Any ML project I've worked on has been a lot of tinkering - not unlike the sort of craftsmanship one associates with woodworking and blacksmithing. Tinkerers gave us Google, Facebook and of course modern civilization. Tinkerers need the Medici family equivalent. Silicon Valley has that in spades. The Chinese graduate students I met and knew brought this tinkerer's spirit and the American university atmosphere allowed them to unleash their potential (check out who features in the author lists of CMU, Stanford, MIT's papers at NIPS, ICML etc.). That state of mind and not a top-down approach is what we need. More Ben Franklins, Robert Hookes, and Issac Newtons; fewer 5-year planning commissions.