11–20 of 223 posts
"Silicon Valley loves to talk big about innovation; it's just not as good at following through." BS. Computing, Networking, Biotech, Internet, and more. Silicon Valley has delivered, and there is more to come. Not every new investment is going to change the world. But collectively, the track record is very strong.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article makes that exact point: > Only governments had the long view and available cash to fund things like supercolliders, deep space programs and - oh yeah - the development of the Internet.
Thats not true. There was no long view government plan to create what we now call the Internet.
"Silicon Valley loves to talk big about innovation; it's just not as good at following through." BS. Computing, Networking, Biotech, Internet, and more. Silicon Valley has delivered, and there is more to come. Not every new investment is going to change the world. But collectively, the track record is very strong.
Just fyi, I truly believe in free-markets but I am willing to ack. that it rests on strong foundations in a 'common infrastructure', and with few exceptions, innovations entirely from private entities are limited.
"That's fine, that's capitalism - and these incremental improvements lead to slow productivity gains that at least quicken the pulse of economists. But maybe let's drop the pretense that we're curing cancer unless, you know, we're curing cancer." Reasonable and astute point. "An Economist article this year exploring the state of innovation noted that centuries of scientific progress means it takes ever longer for peo…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article makes that exact point: > Only governments had the long view and available cash to fund things like supercolliders, deep space programs and - oh yeah - the development of the Internet.
Thats not true. There was no long view government plan to create what we now call the Internet.
"Silicon Valley loves to talk big about innovation; it's just not as good at following through." BS. Computing, Networking, Biotech, Internet, and more. Silicon Valley has delivered, and there is more to come. Not every new investment is going to change the world. But collectively, the track record is very strong.
Almost all the ones you listed have had a large role of the Government in play (ARPANET, DOD etc.. not to mention indirectly via research grants to universities). To claim that is all free-markets, and entirely done by 'innovative' private companies is at best a myopic view. Just fyi, I truly believe in free-markets but I am willing to ack. that it rests on strong foundations in a 'common infrastructure', and with fe…
"Silicon Valley loves to talk big about innovation; it's just not as good at following through." BS. Computing, Networking, Biotech, Internet, and more. Silicon Valley has delivered, and there is more to come. Not every new investment is going to change the world. But collectively, the track record is very strong.
You are aware that all the technology you mention was initially produced by government-funded research or research labs in monopolies (Bell), no?
"Silicon Valley loves to talk big about innovation; it's just not as good at following through." BS. Computing, Networking, Biotech, Internet, and more. Silicon Valley has delivered, and there is more to come. Not every new investment is going to change the world. But collectively, the track record is very strong.
do you really believe those things were created in or by silicon valley? Even beyond their public pasts, their early private champions like Bell Labs, BBN and IBM weren't from california nor private equity backed.
"Silicon Valley loves to talk big about innovation; it's just not as good at following through." BS. Computing, Networking, Biotech, Internet, and more. Silicon Valley has delivered, and there is more to come. Not every new investment is going to change the world. But collectively, the track record is very strong.
Pray tell, what in the following lists qualify as the sort of "big innovations" we're talking about?
[1] http://a16z.com/portfolio/
[2] http://firstround.com/companies/
[3] http://www.kpcb.com/companies
Don't get me wrong, these lists contain a lot of great products that I'm happy exist - but big and world-changing they are not. The fact that the typical SV VC scene funds one or two truly disruptive, technologically groundbreaking firms in a sea of other investments doesn't seem like a "strong track record".
"Silicon Valley loves to talk big about innovation; it's just not as good at following through." BS. Computing, Networking, Biotech, Internet, and more. Silicon Valley has delivered, and there is more to come. Not every new investment is going to change the world. But collectively, the track record is very strong.
do you really believe those things were created in or by silicon valley? Even beyond their public pasts, their early private champions like Bell Labs, BBN and IBM weren't from california nor private equity backed.
If we're talking about narratives, indeed, the narrative that seems more prevalent is actually a big company that has a cash cow (e.g. Xerox with copiers, AT&T with the telephone network) having money to throw around at R&D activity.