Why the United States has the best research universities

Post by andrewflnr » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 7:24 PM UTC

tpmx wrote: post #27

My impression: Europe does pretty well in non computer-science areas.

Post by boringg » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 7:26 PM UTC

avs733 wrote: post #57

boringg wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this vein [but slightly off topic], can anyone point me to high profile megacap EU startups? The only one that comes to mind is Spotify. I was speaking with some people the other day and probably due to a NA centric focus we were at a lack of well branded EU starts up that had made it similar to US ones.

Klarna, Revolut, and Hellofresh (German founding I believe) immediately pop to mind but I'm sure there are more if I did some searching. The recent trips to Europe I have been so intrigued by how different the apps people use for many common commercial tasks are to the ones I use at home. I'm assuming there are logistical, cultural, or compliance reasons at play but I can't speak to it.

Post by ur-whale » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 7:27 PM UTC

boringg wrote: post #46

elefanten wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This rings true... there’s a tendency to exaggerate or maximalize in the US, certainly at least in the commercial realm.

In this vein [but slightly off topic], can anyone point me to high profile megacap EU startups? The only one that comes to mind is Spotify. I was speaking with some people the other day and probably due to a NA centric focus we were at a lack of well branded EU starts up that had made it similar to US ones.

     - finance infrastructure for this is non-existent (VCs are a joke in Europe, both in terms of size and in terms of the type of stuff they invest in)

     - risk-taking is simply not a cultural value anymore

     - administrative burdens (taxes, labor laws, cost of labor, hyper-restrictive regulations, etc ...) are such a gigantic drag that most people potentially potentially capable of starting such things either walk away, or move to a place where they can actually conduct business (historically, the US, although it's not as good as it was).

     - at least in Western Europe, (Germany, France), people are so very comfy in their social cocoon (social security, retirement, social programs), the whole notion of "making it" (e.g becoming truly financially independent) is *very* hard for them to even understand. Net effect: no motivation, no GOOG/FB/AMZN/TESLA/SpaceX

     - the US has a "let the tree grow first, we'll regulate once it bears fruits" attitude towards emerging and potentially disruptive tech. The EU on the other hand has a "oh, my god, this is potentially very disruptive, someone ought to legislate, and quick".

Post by periheli0n » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 7:27 PM UTC

PeterisP wrote: post #47

periheli0n wrote: post #29

“Best universities” according to which measure? I find it super difficult to come up with a hard set of criteria that measure the performance of an educational institution. Number of graduates? Number of research papers published? Amount of grant income? Can all be gamed. Strength of character and depth of personality of graduates would be a good metric, but is impossible to measure.

Arguably, "strength of character and depth of personality" is something inherent to the people, not something they get in or from a university. So if you could such a metric, it would reflect which university manages to attract the best highschoolers, not which university is best at educating them (i.e. which university is likely to improve you most should you choose to go there) or producing research results.

Post by RGamma » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 7:30 PM UTC