America Lacks Meaningful Innovation
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America Lacks Meaningful Innovation
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Re: America Lacks Meaningful Innovation
#2"The people that are using digital innovations to solve real world problems like energy, health care, agriculture, and transportation are ahead of the curve."
Those are all capital intensive. Most 20 year olds don't have that much capital. It would be great to see more investment in this space, though.
I'm sure someone straight out of school could write software to improve healthcare records management, but the cost of maneuvering through healthcare regulations would be higher than most could afford.
My point is that people fresh out of school who want to be independent are tackling the biggest problems they can on a budget of $1-2000/month.
Re: America Lacks Meaningful Innovation
#3I don't really agree. It's more that innovation isn't publicized and talked about as much as companies that are looking to score big. It also takes longer to mold innovation into something that can be sold; in the end, we still need to eat.
Also, why America? How is it different in other countries? Genuinely curious.
Re: America Lacks Meaningful Innovation
#4I see all this potential, and I see it squandered. God damn it, an entire generation selling ads, making social media startups – slaves with white collars. Internet hype has us chasing VCs and tweets, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no AI Winter. No Project MAC. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be Zuckerbergs, and Bill Gateses, and rock star programmers, but we won't. We're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.
Re: America Lacks Meaningful Innovation
#5"The people that are using digital innovations to solve real world problems like energy, health care, agriculture, and transportation are ahead of the curve." Those are all capital intensive. Most 20 year olds don't have that much capital. It would be great to see more investment in this space, though. I'm sure someone straight out of school could write software to improve healthcare records management, but the cost…
You're exactly right. The barriers to entry are significantly higher when trying to innovate in "real world" problems (vs entertainment based ventures). Hopefully incentives, incubators, and resources will come into play to help navigate those challenges. Some are there already but don't really receive the media coverage to inspire others to follow suit.
Re: America Lacks Meaningful Innovation
#6"The people that are using digital innovations to solve real world problems like energy, health care, agriculture, and transportation are ahead of the curve." Those are all capital intensive. Most 20 year olds don't have that much capital. It would be great to see more investment in this space, though. I'm sure someone straight out of school could write software to improve healthcare records management, but the cost…
That's assuming that you can even break into the industry. Beyond regulations, most healthcare companies and hospitals have contracts with companies that basically prevent any sort of real competition. Much like the health insurance industry, health technology is in dire need of a revamping.
Re: America Lacks Meaningful Innovation
#7I see all this potential, and I see it squandered. God damn it, an entire generation selling ads, making social media startups – slaves with white collars. Internet hype has us chasing VCs and tweets, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no AI Winter. No Project MAC. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our…
Really?
Re: America Lacks Meaningful Innovation
#8"The people that are using digital innovations to solve real world problems like energy, health care, agriculture, and transportation are ahead of the curve." Those are all capital intensive. Most 20 year olds don't have that much capital. It would be great to see more investment in this space, though. I'm sure someone straight out of school could write software to improve healthcare records management, but the cost…
Maybe that's the real lament then - that so many people fresh out of school have such a strong desire to be independent that they don't contribute to efforts to solve the problems you listed in your quote.
I'm not saying people aren't justified in wanting to not "work for the man". I'm just saying that maybe the fact that working for the man is perceived as such a bad thing (or is such a bad thing) is a bit closer to a root cause of America's problems than the idea that making people click ads is the best way to make a buck today.
Re: America Lacks Meaningful Innovation
#9I don't agree with you, I went to the MIT 100K business plan awards the other night and there were very few types of companies of what you talk about. I think you're basing your assumptions on reading too many TechCrunch-ish articles that focus on the consumer web-based marketplace.
For example, the winner of the MIT 100K contest develops sanitation devices for third-world countries. Read more over here: http://bostinnovation.com/2011/05/11/sanergy-wins-mit-100k-b...
I can think of tons of other examples, but don't have time to go list them out. Just don't read a website like Techmeme or TechCrunch and think you're really getting a total picture on the startup scene. I can tell you stores of many of my friends working in high-tech ceramics and crystals, and new recylcing technologies...
Re: America Lacks Meaningful Innovation
#10The products that are being developed by the new startups in the Silicon Valley are gradually shifting from technology to entertainment, like Hollywood. Google was still a productivity-tools oriented company, while Facebook is mostly Hollywood style entertainment, a new TV if you wish. This can be evidenced by the fact that Google is never blocked at work places, while Facebook is almost always blocked as a productivity killer. The people that this new TV show industry attracts are naturally different from the people that the makers of productivity tools attract.