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Isn’t the brain drain people leaving their home countries to make money in the US?
by groundzeros2015 5mo ago
Isn’t the brain drain people leaving their home countries to make money in the US?
- JumpCrisscross 5mo ago> people leaving their home countries to make money in the US? To study and work, yes. We learned the trick when the Nazis chased off their scientists, doubled down on it by capturing Nazi scientists, and then developed it into a multi-decade advantage throughout the Cold War and the 1990s. Looking back, we started fucking it up with the Iraq War and financial crisis (see: A123 bankruptcy giving China its EV industry) and are now closing the chapter triumphantly.
- deleted 5mo ago[deleted]
- 1-more 5mo agoHighly recommend The Man from the Future biography of John von Neumann. We got The Martians for a steal because Europe was too hostile to minorities and we got the Manhattan Project and computers out of the deal. Never gonna have a brain drain arbitrage opportunity like that again.
- JumpCrisscross 5mo agoThanks! Really appreciate the recommendation! > Never gonna have a brain drain arbitrage opportunity like that again. It’s sort of there for the taking for American elites. Someone just has to roll out a real red carpet.
- groundzeros2015 5mo agoThat’s not remotely similar.
- 1-more 5mo agoSimilar to what? Von Neumann was part of Europe's elite scientific brain drain to the US in the 20th century, that's all.
- groundzeros2015 5mo agoWhether to help an existing accomplished researcher change address because their home country is not an option, is not similar to the question of whether to educate chinese students who plan to return home.
- 1-more 5mo agoNever said they were, just said it's a good book about a pretty unique set of circumstances and the biography of one guy in the middle of it.
- pkaye 5mo agoThere has been a general downtrend in Chinese students studying internationally. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-29/chinese-student-numbers-are-expected-to-take-turn-for-the-worse/106468846 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-29/chinese-student-numbe... Also US international students as percent of overall student population has been in the low end. Its mostly been universities around the world catering to international students because they pay a higher tuition and to makeup for a shortfall in domestic funding. Its much better for universities to educate the local population. https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2025/12/universities-cry-poor-as-international-student-numbers-boom/ https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2025/12/universities-cry-po...
- danans 5mo ago> A123 bankruptcy giving China its EV industry For those who aren't aware, A123 made the batteries for the GM EV1, which GM famously killed after killing the CA clean air regulation that gave rise to it.
- rangestransform 5mo agoA123 also owned the IP to lithium iron phosphate battery chemistry, which is now BYD’s claim to fame
- groundzeros2015 5mo agoThose were productive researchers already working in the field who simply moved their address. Whether to educate young Chinese nationals in the US who plan to return to their home nation isn’t a similar situation.