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It's funny when people say things like capitalism created computers and iPhones. No it was the government, primarily the military for decades right up to when t

It's funny when people say things like capitalism created computers and iPhones. No it was the government, primarily the military for decades right up to when they could be marketed, that was the leading researcher in this field. Pity this was kept secret and only ever saw military use. Sounds like a very advanced processor.

sn_master 6y ago
The cold war was the father and mother of the computing industry and science. Most of innovative super computers were designed and sold for the Nuclear Weapons Labs or the Lockheeds of the time.
mhh__ 6y ago
The government (usually the military) makes the thing with a basically unlimited space and budget, the private sector let's you buy one. Making an iPhone is not trivial in the slightest, too. Also, the military (for the most part) pays for these inventions, the actual research and manufacture is usually still done in the private sector. That doesn't have to be the case, but if we take the Soviet Union as an example of an alternate system (Basically state-owned design Bureaus) they could just about keep up with the pace of technological development (and match in limited scope) but their populaces didn't see the "trickle down" technology.
- ngcc_hk 6y ago
  Therefore they evolve. Instead of state we have state based capitalism. Instead of innovation by state, we have private firms which can steal from other countries freely as they are not military. And they can produce well as well. And they can go out to sell you things and selective let you in for helping in the copying. That is Soviet Union 2.0 - china.
- Synaesthesia 6y ago
  I once read the big problem with Soviet industry was they focused on heavy industry but not light manufacturing like Co sumer products. The Asian tigers explicitly focused on that.
tomcam 6y ago
> The device was designed by a team at a company called Garrett AiResearch on a subcontract for Grumman, the aircraft manufacturer. Garrett AiResearch appears to have been a private company

sn_master 6y ago

The cold war was the father and mother of the computing industry and science. Most of innovative super computers were designed and sold for the Nuclear Weapons Labs or the Lockheeds of the time.

mhh__ 6y ago

The government (usually the military) makes the thing with a basically unlimited space and budget, the private sector let's you buy one. Making an iPhone is not trivial in the slightest, too. Also, the military (for the most part) pays for these inventions, the actual research and manufacture is usually still done in the private sector. That doesn't have to be the case, but if we take the Soviet Union as an example of an alternate system (Basically state-owned design Bureaus) they could just about keep up with the pace of technological development (and match in limited scope) but their populaces didn't see the "trickle down" technology.

ngcc_hk 6y ago
Therefore they evolve. Instead of state we have state based capitalism. Instead of innovation by state, we have private firms which can steal from other countries freely as they are not military. And they can produce well as well. And they can go out to sell you things and selective let you in for helping in the copying. That is Soviet Union 2.0 - china.
Synaesthesia 6y ago
I once read the big problem with Soviet industry was they focused on heavy industry but not light manufacturing like Co sumer products. The Asian tigers explicitly focused on that.

tomcam 6y ago

> The device was designed by a team at a company called Garrett AiResearch on a subcontract for Grumman, the aircraft manufacturer. Garrett AiResearch appears to have been a private company