Lazarus:
Although are politics are quite different, I've got to agree with you re: Silicon Valley.
I don't think the rest of the country quite realizes what SV provides to the US as a whole. It is the incubator for much of the technical innovation that occurs in America. Ideas may be hatched in the universities, but are taken from embryos to full term babies in the nest of SV. The whole VC-funded company innovation life cycle of SV fuels the front end of the soul of American competitiveness.
Do we stay ahead of other countries because of our manufacturing? Natural resources? Cheap labor? No, we stay ahead because we are constantly on the leading edge of innovation and technology. We both create and absorb the initial crest of this innovation, which then spreads to the rest of the world. If we lose that edge, the US will fall from its perch in less than a generation...
Believe me, China, India, and Russia are poised and ready to snatch the technological sente from us. They have the desire, the raw talent, and the armies of hungry workers. They only lack the magical SV formula. We, as a country, seem willing to kill our golden goose in the post-recession CEO-compensation/stock option vendetta, emasculating our ideal Darwin-based SV miracle to salve the wounds of those who were made temporary millionaires by that very bubble.
And those who think that technical innovation comes from outside SV are in for a big surprise. Who outside SV would lead the next generation? IBM? Lotus? Wang? DEC - remember Ken Olson's famous "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home."? Anyone think that Microsoft actually innovates outside of their "embrace and expand" style (otherwise known as "pillage and plunder")?
Unfortunately, there are many outside of SV that do not recognize or appreciate what SV means to this country. Are they jealous, or just habitually committed to ignorance? Who knows. But they are plentiful, and as they dance over the grave of SV, they will ensure that the US falls off its pedestal forever. |
