4 ms·
I would postulate US universities ranking among the top and producing groundbreaking innovation and technology is more a function of US being a cultural, econom
by strikelaserclaw 4y ago
I would postulate US universities ranking among the top and producing groundbreaking innovation and technology is more a function of US being a cultural, economic hegemony for the past 80 years than it having some magical "system" that works. Before WW2, when you think of groundbreaking research you think of USA as a backwater compared to Europe. It is also my feeling that this American system is going to unravel in tandem with its economic/cultural collapse if nothing is done to heavily modify the rigged system.
- Longlius 4y agoThe USA was hardly a backwater compared to Europe before WW2. Princeton had a world-class mathematics department where people came from all over the world to study and research, among them Alan Turing (whose collaborations with Alonzo Church turned out to be very important to this website). And even before the 20th century, American scientific acumen was fairly well-regarded. Benjamin Franklin's reputation in Europe was partially based on his scientific achievements. Europe's disdain for the Americas was almost always rooted in a belief of cultural superiority, not a belief that American science or engineering was weak.