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The US, Germany, and Japan are all technology leaders. None of those nations leapfrogged into a developed nation by copying others.
by toast_coder 8y ago
The US, Germany, and Japan are all technology leaders. None of those nations leapfrogged into a developed nation by copying others.
- ISL 8y agoA counterexample: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Slater https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Slater
- oh_sigh 8y agoBeing familiar with a machine, and taking that knowledge elsewhere seems qualitatively different from wholesale copying of documents and blueprints.
- monocasa 8y ago> He learned of the American interest in developing similar machines, and he was also aware of British laws against exporting the designs. He therefore memorized as much as he could and departed for New York in 1789. Textile mills at the time were the modern day equivalent of semiconductor foundries. I dare you to try something like that today and see what happens to you.
- oh_sigh 8y agoYou're allowed to walk away from a job and retain the knowledge you learned in that job.
- scarejunba 8y agoThis is really nothing different from Anthony Lewandowski and friends.
- oh_sigh 8y agoIt would be more like if Uber hired levandowski and he didn't (allegedly) walk away with gigabytes of info and only walked with what was in his own head
- scarejunba 8y agoThings have changed since then. It's the same data. Your means of recording it has just changed.
- iooi 8y agoAh yeah, I remember reading about that in my American History textbook! We started the industrial revolution right after we signed the declaration of independence, it was the British who copied us.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- yourbandsucks 8y agoFunny story, heavy industry in the US was started by a guy who, realizing the British would check his luggage for documents, memorized all the plans and ideas he stole. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Cabot_Lowell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Cabot_Lowell
- monocasa 8y agoIn addition to what others have said, the Merchandise Marks of Act 1887 was passed in Britain to require all foreign made items to have a country of origin listed. This was mainly so that British consumers could see that something was a cheap German knockoff.
- scarejunba 8y agoCan't wait for the 2060 version: "Unlike Brazil or India, China is a technology leader. It didn't copy others."
- msie 8y agoReally? I remembered when the Americans accused the Japanese of copying.
- Kagerjay 8y agouh... Japan was practically given a lot of American Technology right after WWII under Robert Demings. In fact, Toyota is partially the way it is today, thanks to the Ford Assembly Line, but they still paved there own means of success. Germany arguably the same as well, around the same time frame. Can't recall the exact history of what US gave to Germany though, but it was most likely part of the Marshall Plan. US is copying a lot of methodologies and philosophies from Japan. Any deriative of the Toyota way is in many management philosophies, from scrum, agile development, etc. Germany, much technology is still being shared between both our countries today. Japan is copying a lot of software innovations from America, and vice versa.
- vvanders 8y agoYeah, This American Life had a great podcast about the NUMMI[1] plant that covers this in great depth. Pretty fascinating stuff. [1] https://www.thisamericanlife.org/561/nummi-2015 https://www.thisamericanlife.org/561/nummi-2015
- kevin_thibedeau 8y agoThe US and Japan most certainly did industrialize by copying from Europe. Ignoring IP whenever it was inconvenient.
- vkou 8y agoThis is patently false. Industrial espionage, or just plain-old gifts (To keep the commies out) kickstarted the manufacturing economies of all three of those countries. Of course, once you become a manufacturing leader, you want to pull the ladder up from under you, in the form of strong IP laws.
- g8oz 8y agoA counterexample: In WW1 German patents were declared invalid in the U.S. The U.S chemical industry basically then copied everything they could from them with the government's blessing.
- marmot777 8y agoThere's a difference between copying and outright theft.