Francis Spufford's Red Plenty is fascinating on engineering culture in closed societies. The recent Chernobyl drama series addresses the same point too. Technic

Francis Spufford's Red Plenty is fascinating on engineering culture in closed societies. The recent Chernobyl drama series addresses the same point too. Technical problem solving and innovation work best in open societies where there's minimal political interference in the flow of information. The US overtook the UK as economic #1 in 1870, and is still #1. Despite 100 years of decline the UK is still top 10. IMHO domestic market size, effective autarky, an open society and drawing the smartest immigrants globally has kept the US at #1, and will continue to do so despite challenges in the 80s from the Japanese and more recently the Chinese.