CAR, I’m not going to quote your long post, but you’re trying to pick a fight where a fight doesn’t exist. davelj ask where would these internet billionaires would be if there’s no internet. My answer was they probably will be exactly where they are. Look at sdr’s post. That’s my point exactly. These guys are wired differently.
You might not like Zuckerberg, but what problem did he solve? How about the problem of people being able to connect with each other and see what others are doing in an easy to use interface. There’s a reason why there are hundreds of millions of people using it. It might not be your problem but people would be using his service if it doesn’t enhance their lives in some way.
However, that’s really beside the point. Look at the forest instead of the tree. These are brilliant guys (I said brilliant and not just smart). If the internet doesn’t exist, they’ll find some other problem that need solving. Again, my point is, Zuckerberg, Page, Brin, Gates, Jobs, etc are the same type of guys like Ford, Edison, etc. Ford and Edison didn’t come up with the light bulb and the car because of government spending. You’re assuming guys like Zuckerberg, Page, Brin, Gates and Jobs will just sit and twittle their thumbs if government doesn’t exist. There might not be the internet or Windows/OSX/iOS/Android as we know it today, but they won’t be any different than who they are. Which is problem solvers and entrepreneurs.
Yes, Apple and Microsoft both benefited from Xerox PARC. They were the inventor of the mouse and GUI. But Xerox was going to just shelf that technology. W/out Gates and Jobs, we would probably never gotten Windows/OSX/iOS/etc. Xerox at the time had to plan to commercializing it. So, because they were going to just canned the project, both Apple and Microsoft took it for free and Xerox doesn’t mind. I know about public spending in PARC, DARPA, NASA, etc. and I never said they’re not helpful. But you fail to grasp my original point, which is, these type of guys will be just like Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, etc. and go solve some problem at their time, with or without government spending.
WRT to public grant, facilities, etc., where do you think the government get their money to provide these grant and facilities? Without private corporations to pay the taxes, without private corporation to hire and pay their employees who end up paying more taxes, where would the government get their money from? It’s a symbiotic relationship. I never suggest government have no role in what we have today. Just go back and read my original point and try to see the forest from the trees.
