Why does so much innovation come from America? Because it sucks.
blog.ejovi.net
blog.ejovi.net
By that logic we should see the most innovation coming out of the worst places on earth.
How's that innovation coming out of the Sudan going? Lots of things that suck there that could be fixed.
What, Greece doesn't have a load of problems that should drive innovation?
America has a culture of individualism, problem solving, and allowing those who solve problems to keep the spoils of their market victories.
I don't think individualism would be a major factor.
There are many countries which satisfy your former criteria yet lack this; none of them have the same innovation economy that the United States possesses.
Their are plenty of artist and individualist in Germany which has a very large art culture. Would Germany be considered one of the more innovative countries in the world?
He has this hypothesis that one of the primary reason for American innovative dominance is due to the ubiquity of basements in America. His theory goes that while much of the rest of the 1st world countries are very crowded in the cities, America has room such that even folks who live in the cities have basements.
Basements being where the majority of the "tinkering" is done, because you don't have to leave home to go work on your pet project. Because basements aren't as "livable" as the rest of the house, they are usually relegated to work benches, mini-offices, and the less-sightly kind of things you wouldn't want sitting out in your living room or cluttering up your closets. And they're as big as the house - so plenty of space to work with.
Because just about everyone has basements, everyone has convenient access to a private working sanctuary to attempt to live out their dreams.
So that's basically how his hypothesis goes. It's one of the more interesting thoughts I've heard, and it's fascinating to see it from the perspective of an outsider who moved here and made something of himself.
Coming from a machinist background (rather than a hacker who can work just about anywhere with a laptop), the availability of a basement for him to keep his machines is something that might seem obvious to him, and certainly lends to why he holds this as true.
Surely it's not the whole truth, but it certainly makes one think.
I've also been told that officials are not as corrupt in other countries. I can't verify this, as all of the foreign countries that I've visited has been for leisure.
It could also be stated that it's in our culture and our DNA... that if you work hard you too can live the American Dream and prosper. Obviously, that's not always the case, but that statement is repeated quite often from peers, schools, and businesses so maybe some citizens start to believe it i.e. self-fulfilling prophesy.
Innovation does not JUST happen because people are angry. It's necessary but that is not the only way. You need access to capital. You need flexible labor laws. You need an ecosystem that will support new initiatives even against existing laws and principles. And there are cultural aspects as well.
The fact that the poster considers Japan as "not a source of innovation" is flawed, as there is still a lot of innovation happening in here. It's just that he probably does not see it, but many companies are introducing new services all the time in Japan - if you don't bother watching what is happening and just look at the headlines in English papers, you are missing something.
I guess if this was true, innovation would go up when countries suck, thus leading to a better situation and less innovation, which means the country would eventually suck again… after a while, would things finally come to a stop at an innovation/suckiness equilibrium?
The US has less of a need for a national passenger rail service. The low faire airlines filled that gap long ago (southwest?)...
I don't buy it.
Airline deregulation didn't occur in the USA until the late 70's. Until then most American's still preferred to travel by car. Not rail.
So I do agree that American's had less of a need for a national rail because the country had a well developed interstate highway system for all those cheap gas guzzling cars. Great until gas became expensive. Oops.
I would argue southwest could only succeed because of a failed rail system. But I have no data to support that theory.
But they do say that necessity is the mother of invention, and so perhaps it's more a matter of finding the balance point: supporting people to the point that innovation seems possible, but not doing everything for them to the point that innovation seems unnecessary.
Yes, need problems in order to have innovative problems. With this theory, third world nations with the worst infrastructure would be booming with innovation.
There is so much more required than problems. America drives innovation because of many factors, including standard of living, capitalistic markets, freedom of choice, and access to educational opportunities.