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When you read biographies from the early 20th century like Edison's (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/820 http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/820) you get a sense of

When you read biographies from the early 20th century like Edison's (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/820 http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/820) you get a sense of how quickly innovation moved. And, how far ahead the USA was, of everyone else. Also when you read these biographies you realize that science education has never really been appreciated in the USA or England. These countries do occasionally spit out great innovators, but not because of the educational system. It's because people in the USA are free to peruse what they want, and the USA has lots of capital.

gumby 6y ago
> When you read [ American ] biographies from the early 20th century like Edison's ... you get a sense of how quickly innovation moved. And, how far ahead the USA was, of everyone else. Don't forget these are self-serving documents. This is not a slur on Americans: I once gave a talk at La Vilette in Paris. An English colleague of mine came along. As we walked in he sneered, "this is the kind of place where the French claim to have invented everything." Of course in the UK you can find such places as well. You can find the same elsewhere. Edison did good work on the light bulb ... building on a Canadian patent. The automobile was not invented in the USA. The A bomb was invented in the USA by ... an international team. Especially in the early 20s the USA was not "far ahead of everyone else". Where the US does endanger itself is a certain myopia. For example space museums in the US typically only discuss the US space program, as if, apart from a quick mention of Sputnik and perhaps Gargarin, it was the only one. It's understandable that many people will be more interested in the developments of their country! But that view, writ large, means people will suffer crappy things too (e.g. lousy medical system) not realizing that things really are better elsewhere. It also means, when, say, jobs move to China, that that country must be an "enemy". In reality it's not a wealthy country and has a lot of tough problems. And has advanced technology the US does not.

gumby 6y ago

> When you read [ American ] biographies from the early 20th century like Edison's ... you get a sense of how quickly innovation moved. And, how far ahead the USA was, of everyone else. Don't forget these are self-serving documents. This is not a slur on Americans: I once gave a talk at La Vilette in Paris. An English colleague of mine came along. As we walked in he sneered, "this is the kind of place where the French claim to have invented everything." Of course in the UK you can find such places as well. You can find the same elsewhere. Edison did good work on the light bulb ... building on a Canadian patent. The automobile was not invented in the USA. The A bomb was invented in the USA by ... an international team. Especially in the early 20s the USA was not "far ahead of everyone else". Where the US does endanger itself is a certain myopia. For example space museums in the US typically only discuss the US space program, as if, apart from a quick mention of Sputnik and perhaps Gargarin, it was the only one. It's understandable that many people will be more interested in the developments of their country! But that view, writ large, means people will suffer crappy things too (e.g. lousy medical system) not realizing that things really are better elsewhere. It also means, when, say, jobs move to China, that that country must be an "enemy". In reality it's not a wealthy country and has a lot of tough problems. And has advanced technology the US does not.