The deep history of Silicon Valley is the history of WWII and unrestrained debt-based government spending on R&D. Only after that foundation was laid did the pr

The deep history of Silicon Valley is the history of WWII and unrestrained debt-based government spending on R&D. Only after that foundation was laid did the private businesses grow on that fertile ground. "Secret History of Silicon Valley" (Computer History Museum, Mountain View) https://youtu.be/ZTC_RxWN_xo https://youtu.be/ZTC_RxWN_xo > Today, Silicon Valley is known around the world as a fount of technology innovation and development fueled by private venture capital and peopled by fabled entrepreneurs. But it wasn't always so. Unbeknownst to even seasoned inhabitants, today's Silicon Valley had its start in government secrecy and wartime urgency. > In this lecture, renowned serial entrepreneur Steve Blank presents how the roots of Silicon Valley sprang not from the later development of the silicon semiconductor but instead from the earlier technology duel over the skies of Germany and secret efforts around (and over) the Soviet Union. World War II, the Cold War and one Stanford professor set the stage for the creation and explosive growth of entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley. The world was forever changed when the Defense Department, CIA and the National Security Agency acted like today's venture capitalists funding this first wave of entrepreneurship. Steve Blank shows how these groundbreaking early advances lead up to the high-octane, venture capital fueled Silicon Valley we know today. Since the American public (and not just the American one) considers such kinds of unrestricted government spending as a waste of resources the way left to fund basic research apart from the little bit that doesn't lead to cries of "government waste" - because let's face it, a lot of it is, that's just what happens when you do very basic research with no immediate goal in mind - is military spending. If the role of military research is considered bad I think there has to be a culture shift coming from all voters. As long as they allow such government actions as long as it's "for defense" but not for anything else (at least not even close to the scale) then stuff will get done through the military. Apparently the demand (pull factor) is there, so if the only path is spending through military channels this is what happens. EDIT: Also see @chriselles's comment