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Nature vs Nurture I guess. If more people = more progress we would see way more innovation coming from China/India/Africa. Each of those places has double the

Nature vs Nurture I guess. If more people = more progress we would see way more innovation coming from China/India/Africa. Each of those places has double the population of Europe and 5X that of the USA, but aren't really driving human progress in any meaningful way. It seems like pouring more resources into fewer people has better outcomes. 2-3 generations of depopulation might be what we need to make space for some huge innovations.

poisonborz 2y ago
China and India, but even Africa not driving human progress in any meaningful way? They are not perfect countries with a western eye, but you should read a bit more on what goes on outside the western hemisphere. Or just look at the label of all your electronics.
- ericmcer 2y ago
  I mean just google major inventions that have come out of each of those countries versus the united states. I am not trying to be elitist, just making an argument that more people != more innovation and smaller groups with more resources will produce better results than just making tons of people and hoping more random geniuses appear.
  - poisonborz 2y ago
    Are you serious? Compass, gunpowder, in vitro fertilisation, metallurgy, the concept of zero and decimal number system. In current times China and India has a manufacturing industry the US can't compete with (tries to, with expensive hogwash like the Chip act). Strictly speaking yes, more people != more innovation, but your examples are just not making sense. You are talking about the second and fifth largest economies worldwide.
    - ericmcer 2y ago
      Yes I am serious, what you are claiming is: US has 333m so: China 1.4b = 4.5X more innovations Africa 1.3b = 4X more innovations India 1.4b = 4.5X more innovations I don't think this holds true at all. Also the innovations you mentioned are from a time before China had a massive population compared to Europe. I am talking about the last few generations when the human population exploded. Why would an innovation from 1000 years ago have any relevance.
  - maxglute 2y ago
    >smaller groups with more resources Said small group result of brain drain from very large group of Chinese, Indian / others. Billions of people are being filtered through foreign academic gauntlets - trying to find random geniuses from large pop base - before being drained / coordinated by US who does not have sufficient indigenous talent.

poisonborz 2y ago

China and India, but even Africa not driving human progress in any meaningful way? They are not perfect countries with a western eye, but you should read a bit more on what goes on outside the western hemisphere. Or just look at the label of all your electronics.

ericmcer 2y ago
I mean just google major inventions that have come out of each of those countries versus the united states. I am not trying to be elitist, just making an argument that more people != more innovation and smaller groups with more resources will produce better results than just making tons of people and hoping more random geniuses appear.
- poisonborz 2y ago
  Are you serious? Compass, gunpowder, in vitro fertilisation, metallurgy, the concept of zero and decimal number system. In current times China and India has a manufacturing industry the US can't compete with (tries to, with expensive hogwash like the Chip act). Strictly speaking yes, more people != more innovation, but your examples are just not making sense. You are talking about the second and fifth largest economies worldwide.
  - ericmcer 2y ago
    Yes I am serious, what you are claiming is: US has 333m so: China 1.4b = 4.5X more innovations Africa 1.3b = 4X more innovations India 1.4b = 4.5X more innovations I don't think this holds true at all. Also the innovations you mentioned are from a time before China had a massive population compared to Europe. I am talking about the last few generations when the human population exploded. Why would an innovation from 1000 years ago have any relevance.
- maxglute 2y ago
  >smaller groups with more resources Said small group result of brain drain from very large group of Chinese, Indian / others. Billions of people are being filtered through foreign academic gauntlets - trying to find random geniuses from large pop base - before being drained / coordinated by US who does not have sufficient indigenous talent.