3 ms·

You will not "recreate" it, as everything now is short term shareholder profit/dividend driven. As others and the article notes, they held the long view on inno

You will not "recreate" it, as everything now is short term shareholder profit/dividend driven. As others and the article notes, they held the long view on innovation. We could really use a large number of bell labs today. It will not happen.

iwontberude 2y ago
Craigslist is an example of where this doesn’t occur but the innovation also doesn’t exist.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
lotsofpulp 2y ago
Yes, the trillion dollar market cap businesses got to where they are by focusing on short term shareholder profit (what does that even mean?) and dividends. Nvidia famously did not play the long game. Nor did Apple with their smartphone bet, or Amazon with their 10+ years of near zero profit margins while building a nationwide logistics network. Or Alphabet with their data centers, plowing billions into YouTube to give access to streaming HD video on demand around the world.
- readingnews 2y ago
  All of your examples could be negated, I will just do one as an example: Apple did not spend 20+ years developing the smart phone thinking "I hope this research pays off". The same for the rest of your examples. Bell Labs, OTOH, was literally like "go do fundamental telecom and computer research, and we will see if we can use it to get ahead". Those are two different mindsets. Amazon had one goal so did Nvidia, Google, etc, with each venture you cited. Bell Labs was a _research park_ of exploration that we do not recreate today.
  - lotsofpulp 2y ago
    I don’t see how you are negating my counter examples from your claim. If you are classifying decade+ investments as long term, then we will simply have to disagree. >as everything now is short term shareholder profit/dividend driven. As others and the article notes, they held the long view on innovation. While things might not be as hunky dory as in the heyday of Bell Labs, I don’t think “everything” is accurately described as short term either.
caddemon 2y ago
It's not just a corporate phenomenon. Academic research has increasingly shifted towards a goal of regularly churning out papers for the sake of getting publications, rather than being driven by curiosity and a desire to share knowledge. There isn't a proper long view in academia either and I think their heuristic for the greedy algorithm is even worse than just maximizing near term profits.

iwontberude 2y ago

Craigslist is an example of where this doesn’t occur but the innovation also doesn’t exist.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

lotsofpulp 2y ago

Yes, the trillion dollar market cap businesses got to where they are by focusing on short term shareholder profit (what does that even mean?) and dividends. Nvidia famously did not play the long game. Nor did Apple with their smartphone bet, or Amazon with their 10+ years of near zero profit margins while building a nationwide logistics network. Or Alphabet with their data centers, plowing billions into YouTube to give access to streaming HD video on demand around the world.

readingnews 2y ago
All of your examples could be negated, I will just do one as an example: Apple did not spend 20+ years developing the smart phone thinking "I hope this research pays off". The same for the rest of your examples. Bell Labs, OTOH, was literally like "go do fundamental telecom and computer research, and we will see if we can use it to get ahead". Those are two different mindsets. Amazon had one goal so did Nvidia, Google, etc, with each venture you cited. Bell Labs was a _research park_ of exploration that we do not recreate today.
- lotsofpulp 2y ago
  I don’t see how you are negating my counter examples from your claim. If you are classifying decade+ investments as long term, then we will simply have to disagree. >as everything now is short term shareholder profit/dividend driven. As others and the article notes, they held the long view on innovation. While things might not be as hunky dory as in the heyday of Bell Labs, I don’t think “everything” is accurately described as short term either.

caddemon 2y ago

It's not just a corporate phenomenon. Academic research has increasingly shifted towards a goal of regularly churning out papers for the sake of getting publications, rather than being driven by curiosity and a desire to share knowledge. There isn't a proper long view in academia either and I think their heuristic for the greedy algorithm is even worse than just maximizing near term profits.