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May 25, 2007 at 9:03 AM #54995May 25, 2007 at 9:56 AM #54990
blahblahblah
ParticipantSorry, I’m a Unix guy. Proudly produced in New Jersey and California. By American’s (I’ve met most of them in fact!).
Hahaha. Are you using UNIX on an old PDP/11 or are you running Linux on your PC? Let’s take a close look at Linux, shall we?
Kernel: From Finland
GNOME: From Mexico
KDE: From Germany
Device Drivers: From all over the world
Toolchain: GNU (mostly US but contributions from all over)etc… etc… etc…
UNIX was a great system and it is still has a big impact on the world but it doesn’t belong to CA and NJ anymore than the internet does. The rest of the world has taken the ball and they are sprinting down the field while we’re all busy giving each other high-fives for inventing this s**t 30 FREAKING YEARS AGO.
Americans are gonna be like those old Brits you see drinking themselves to death in the pubs, talking about how great their empire used to be.
May 25, 2007 at 9:56 AM #55005blahblahblah
ParticipantSorry, I’m a Unix guy. Proudly produced in New Jersey and California. By American’s (I’ve met most of them in fact!).
Hahaha. Are you using UNIX on an old PDP/11 or are you running Linux on your PC? Let’s take a close look at Linux, shall we?
Kernel: From Finland
GNOME: From Mexico
KDE: From Germany
Device Drivers: From all over the world
Toolchain: GNU (mostly US but contributions from all over)etc… etc… etc…
UNIX was a great system and it is still has a big impact on the world but it doesn’t belong to CA and NJ anymore than the internet does. The rest of the world has taken the ball and they are sprinting down the field while we’re all busy giving each other high-fives for inventing this s**t 30 FREAKING YEARS AGO.
Americans are gonna be like those old Brits you see drinking themselves to death in the pubs, talking about how great their empire used to be.
May 25, 2007 at 12:07 PM #550244plexowner
ParticipantFor some insight into the future of America, take a look at the top 5 and the bottom 5 items on the list
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2187rank.html
May 25, 2007 at 12:07 PM #550394plexowner
ParticipantFor some insight into the future of America, take a look at the top 5 and the bottom 5 items on the list
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2187rank.html
May 25, 2007 at 12:11 PM #55026an
Participant4plexowner, those are some very sobering numbers.
May 25, 2007 at 12:11 PM #55041an
Participant4plexowner, those are some very sobering numbers.
May 25, 2007 at 12:25 PM #55028kewp
ParticipantTell me which car company first produced hybrid cars?
That would be Lohner-Porche in 1898.
The first regenerative-braking hybrid (that all modern hybrid designs are based off of) was designed by Electrical Engineer David Arthurs around 1978. These and more fun facts about the history of technology are available at Wikipedia (another ‘merkin innovation!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_electric_hybrid_vehicle#History
Anyways, the point I’m making is that for all this American bashing I see we are still world-leaders from a technological standpoint. And have been for at least the last 100 years. And I think *much* of it has to do with encouraging independence, innovation and creativity, even at the expense of not producing as many high-quality worker bee’s as Asia does.
Not bad given North America is fourth-largest in population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. Maybe the next hundred years will be different, but I have yet to see much evidence of it.
Btw, we must be doing something right, as Asians are still immigrating and enrolling in US uni’s in record numbers!
May 25, 2007 at 12:25 PM #55043kewp
ParticipantTell me which car company first produced hybrid cars?
That would be Lohner-Porche in 1898.
The first regenerative-braking hybrid (that all modern hybrid designs are based off of) was designed by Electrical Engineer David Arthurs around 1978. These and more fun facts about the history of technology are available at Wikipedia (another ‘merkin innovation!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_electric_hybrid_vehicle#History
Anyways, the point I’m making is that for all this American bashing I see we are still world-leaders from a technological standpoint. And have been for at least the last 100 years. And I think *much* of it has to do with encouraging independence, innovation and creativity, even at the expense of not producing as many high-quality worker bee’s as Asia does.
Not bad given North America is fourth-largest in population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. Maybe the next hundred years will be different, but I have yet to see much evidence of it.
Btw, we must be doing something right, as Asians are still immigrating and enrolling in US uni’s in record numbers!
May 25, 2007 at 1:59 PM #55046an
ParticipantThanks for the link. So a non-American invented the hybrid system and a non-American took that to the next level and mass produced it. I don’t see your point. You mentioned “Ford pioneered the personal automobile”. But they’re not the one who invented the automobile. They’re just the first to mass produce the automobile. I don’t see how that’s any different than Toyota/Honda taking what GM/Ford did to the next level? You need innovation to improve. Innovation is not only limit to inventing new products.
Saying because America is world-leaders from a technological standpoint the last 100 years doesn’t make it true that it’ll be a technological leader the next 100 years. Tell me who’s the technological leader 200 years ago?
There’s no argument from me that our university structure is superior to the typical Asian counter part, for now. Saying the university is great doesn’t back up your point though. Look at who’s enrolling in those universities in engineering majors.
May 25, 2007 at 1:59 PM #55061an
ParticipantThanks for the link. So a non-American invented the hybrid system and a non-American took that to the next level and mass produced it. I don’t see your point. You mentioned “Ford pioneered the personal automobile”. But they’re not the one who invented the automobile. They’re just the first to mass produce the automobile. I don’t see how that’s any different than Toyota/Honda taking what GM/Ford did to the next level? You need innovation to improve. Innovation is not only limit to inventing new products.
Saying because America is world-leaders from a technological standpoint the last 100 years doesn’t make it true that it’ll be a technological leader the next 100 years. Tell me who’s the technological leader 200 years ago?
There’s no argument from me that our university structure is superior to the typical Asian counter part, for now. Saying the university is great doesn’t back up your point though. Look at who’s enrolling in those universities in engineering majors.
May 25, 2007 at 2:37 PM #55048kewp
ParticipantI don’t see your point.
My point is that hybrid cars are an entirely Western innovation.
I’m not doubting that Japan is currently the world-leader in getting these into the hands of American Consumers (thanks in no small part to Japanese government regulation). But they are still capitalizing on what is ultimately an American design.
There’s no argument from me that our university structure is superior to the typical Asian counter part, for now. Saying the university is great doesn’t back up your point though. Look at who’s enrolling in those universities in engineering majors.
Yes, but Asian’s account for 60% of the worlds population. And we clearly have the best engineering schools combined with the best opportunities for graduates to make the most money in the global economy. Hence from a purely statistical (not cultural) standpoint it comes as no surprise to me that our institutes of higher education are loaded with foreigners (or their second-gen descendants).
American students don’t have to compete against just the best of their peers anymore. They are against the best the *world* has to offer. And from my experience they are doing about as well as can be expected, given the amount of competition.
May 25, 2007 at 2:37 PM #55063kewp
ParticipantI don’t see your point.
My point is that hybrid cars are an entirely Western innovation.
I’m not doubting that Japan is currently the world-leader in getting these into the hands of American Consumers (thanks in no small part to Japanese government regulation). But they are still capitalizing on what is ultimately an American design.
There’s no argument from me that our university structure is superior to the typical Asian counter part, for now. Saying the university is great doesn’t back up your point though. Look at who’s enrolling in those universities in engineering majors.
Yes, but Asian’s account for 60% of the worlds population. And we clearly have the best engineering schools combined with the best opportunities for graduates to make the most money in the global economy. Hence from a purely statistical (not cultural) standpoint it comes as no surprise to me that our institutes of higher education are loaded with foreigners (or their second-gen descendants).
American students don’t have to compete against just the best of their peers anymore. They are against the best the *world* has to offer. And from my experience they are doing about as well as can be expected, given the amount of competition.
May 25, 2007 at 2:46 PM #550544plexowner
ParticipantChina has more honor students than we have students
May 25, 2007 at 2:46 PM #550694plexowner
ParticipantChina has more honor students than we have students
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