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I find this article a bucolic tale of tech and research. Right after WWII with the planet in shambles, living in the "winning" country, you're working on compu
by reginold 5y ago
I find this article a bucolic tale of tech and research.
Right after WWII with the planet in shambles, living in the "winning" country, you're working on computers and found unfettered access to funds and investment? No surprise.
GE in 1956? To leave out the massive macroeconomic power of GE in that day and age is shortsighted. Same with Bell Labs, et all. This was an age where military spending rose from 1% of GDP to 10%. It was military spending and military might that bought you that "unfettered research". Yes, society should be better at allocating for the long term regarding research and tech -- but 1956 GE was not some sort of utopia.
We're just in a lower part of the cycle right now. Unfortunately, the only reliable "reset" button society has found seems to be war. Hopefully modern financial markets will be able to create those cycles without as much bloodshed.
- whatshisface 5y agoWar only pushes the reset button in a positive way when it's WWII and you're America. See the economic consequences of the war in Vietnam for a more typical outcome of putting military spending to use.
- warning26 5y agoParent did note "living in the 'winning' country" as as precondition, so seems that you are probably in agreement to some extent
- whatshisface 5y agoOkay, economic consequences of successfully invading Afghanistan. Or Iraq.
- sushsjsuauahab 5y agoDo pyrrhic victories count? Seems that the data model is not clear cut.
- reginold 5y agoIs the success of the drone industry an outcome of these wars?
- RC_ITR 5y ago"success" of the drone "industry"
- whatshisface 5y agoSuccessful drone industry: China making quadcopters. Expensive drone industry: US government buying unmanned air vehicles, totally unrelated to quadcopters.
- fwip 5y agoI'll let you know, as soon as we do either of those things successfully. :)
- whatshisface 5y agoBoth countries were successfully invaded, but they were not successfully (defined in the way a Victorian English gentleman would define success) occupied.
- gilleain 5y agoDid North Vietnam lose the war?
- whakim 5y agoMilitary spending as a percent of national income rose a huge amount in the 1940s, but so did spending on pretty much everything else. Over the period from 1930 to 1950 the United States (as well as many other Western countries) transformed themselves from societies with pretty low taxes who spent the bulk of their (small amounts of) revenue on defense to higher-tax societies which spent (a lot more) revenue on defense, education, all kinds of scientific research etc. In fact, while defense spending rose a lot during this period, these other categories of spending rose significantly more (as percentages of national income) because prior to the early twentieth century they weren't really considered core functions of the state. That is the bigger story (rather than World War II). > Unfortunately, the only reliable "reset" button society has found seems to be war. In my opinion this claim needs significantly more justification even though it is frequently tossed around.
- coliveira 5y agoIf you're talking about America, yes the only "reset" button it knows is war.