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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (363855)	12/20/2007 6:57:14 PM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1578542

I'd say that the current boom can be classified more as an "information technology boom" than a general technology boom. Even now, we see PCs being replaced by laptops, PDAs, Blackberries, and of course cell phones. CRTs are being replaced by flat panels. Wires are going away, replaced by wireless technologies. And of course, we're developing "Internet 2.0," such as Google and YouTube. I don't think there is a "current boom". We are in an incremental growth phase. <>The hope is that this IT boom can spill over and spark breakthroughs in alternative energy, biotech (including stem cells), materials for batteries, etc. But I haven't seen anything which has sparked into a new boom. I think it's separate, not spill over. It's a new field that seems to be attracting the "current" best minds (and smart money). As for the transition to alternative energy, the problem with that is that without some real breakthroughs in research, the "transition" would be mostly artificial and heavy supported by the public. Government can fund the research to help speed along the discovery of such breakthroughs, but that's about all I would expect a guy like Al Gore to do. Beyond that, it's just a matter of conservation and controlling the excesses, which itself has benefits but would pretty much require a lot more sacrifice from Americans too used to their SUVs and having only one occupant per vehicle. No "real breakthroughs" needed. It's like going from the 486 to the Pentium... And there is nothing sinful about the government seeding a industry. Certainly happened with the Internet and probably PCs. And especially seeding an industry with big economic and national security implications. But we have to get the highly profitable special interest out of the way. I know you think Americans giving up some of their SUVs is a huge sacrifice... I don't. In fact it will free up money for some other passion. And improve the overall economy which will contribute to wealth. Maybe it will even allow people to save for retirement so they don't have to rely so much on Social Security.

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (363855)	12/20/2007 9:19:00 PM
From: bentway	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1578542

"The hope is that this IT boom can spill over and spark breakthroughs in alternative energy, biotech (including stem cells), materials for batteries, etc. But I haven't seen anything which has sparked into a new boom." Then you aren't looking. What the internet has done is to allow all sorts of scientists, engineers and creative people to do is to collaborate at extremely high speed almost effortlessly, outside the structures of academia or the corporation. There are more scientists, engineers, writers, artists and dreamers alive today than in our entire history. Want an obscure fact? Google it. Got an idea? Want to see if anyone else had it? No sweat.