3 ms·

This entire statement is predicated on STEM graduates being a proxy, but you provide no evidence that's the case. Building complex market ecosystems has very li

This entire statement is predicated on STEM graduates being a proxy, but you provide no evidence that's the case. Building complex market ecosystems has very little to do with supply of STEM graduates. Having some supply is certainly a prerequisite, but there is no indication that the current supply rate is the prerequisite. I suggest you read the mythical man month, it illustrates the fallacious thinking behind throwing more bodies at projects to get them done faster.

nkoren 8y ago
I've read the Mythical Man Month, and it has no bearing on what I'm talking about here. The problem is that "building Shenzhen" isn't a "project", and never can be a "project". The key feature of an industrial ecosystem like this is its enormous diversity -- hundreds of thousands of companies, large and small, doing complementary and competitive and most importantly different things. That is not something that can ever be matched by a monolithic "project". But it is something that absolutely requires large number of both bodies and brains. STEM graduates is, as I say, a poor proxy, but I can't think of a better one. Feel free to suggest. (Hint: it isn't GDP or anything like that, otherwise China would never have been able to do this in the first place.)
- pathseeker 8y ago
  >The key feature of an industrial ecosystem like this is its enormous diversity A bunch of engineers all graduating from the same Chinese school system under the same censorship regime != "diversity". >and most importantly different things. Some are doing different things, but that has nothing to do with the number of STEM graduates. Your incorrect presumption here is that a STEM graduate is magically innovative and entrepreneurial, which there is no evidence of. >STEM graduates is, as I say, a poor proxy, but I can't think of a better one. So don't use it at all. If STEM graduates were enough, why do you think that China hasn't displaced Silicon Valley in the software game? >Feel free to suggest. Incentives, market conditions, and government support. In other words, stuff that can only partially be controlled. Silicon Valley is a direct product of research into military technology driven by the Cold War. No number of STEM graduates can replicate that.

nkoren 8y ago

I've read the Mythical Man Month, and it has no bearing on what I'm talking about here. The problem is that "building Shenzhen" isn't a "project", and never can be a "project". The key feature of an industrial ecosystem like this is its enormous diversity -- hundreds of thousands of companies, large and small, doing complementary and competitive and most importantly different things. That is not something that can ever be matched by a monolithic "project". But it is something that absolutely requires large number of both bodies and brains. STEM graduates is, as I say, a poor proxy, but I can't think of a better one. Feel free to suggest. (Hint: it isn't GDP or anything like that, otherwise China would never have been able to do this in the first place.)

pathseeker 8y ago
>The key feature of an industrial ecosystem like this is its enormous diversity A bunch of engineers all graduating from the same Chinese school system under the same censorship regime != "diversity". >and most importantly different things. Some are doing different things, but that has nothing to do with the number of STEM graduates. Your incorrect presumption here is that a STEM graduate is magically innovative and entrepreneurial, which there is no evidence of. >STEM graduates is, as I say, a poor proxy, but I can't think of a better one. So don't use it at all. If STEM graduates were enough, why do you think that China hasn't displaced Silicon Valley in the software game? >Feel free to suggest. Incentives, market conditions, and government support. In other words, stuff that can only partially be controlled. Silicon Valley is a direct product of research into military technology driven by the Cold War. No number of STEM graduates can replicate that.