

CES Chief Says That Obama Administration is Stifling Innovation - profquail
http://www.dailytech.com/CES+Chief+Says+That+Obama+Administration+is+Stifling+Innovation/article17348.htm

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Semiapies
You know, I'll merrily be the first to call the administration on its
ridiculous anti-trust actions, especially towards Google. I also oppose all
the nativist whinging about letting tech workers in that the last few
presidents and congresses have indulged. All that aside, let's cut to the
chase about the _real_ issue:

"Mr. Shapiro complains that the Obama administration isn't doing enough to
make sure that the U.S.'s trade policy allows our goods to compete with
cheaper goods elsewhere."

The government's thrown billions at the auto industries and banking, and
Shapiro resents that it hasn't thrown similar largess at the tech industry in
the form of protectionist trade policy.

(He might just prefer Team Red to Team Blue, but for the sake of argument I'm
assuming he has a real reason beyond partisan dickery.)

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blueben
Mr. Shapiro is completely right. Nothing good ever came of government
programs. Take DARPA for example. We pour billions into that program, but what
has DARPA ever done to spur technological innovation? Created a few
infrastructure projects like "ARPANet" and "GPS". A few high performance
computing projects, some robotics and automation projects, space projects, and
intelligence systems. Aside from spawning dozens of billion dollar industries
without which CES wouldn't even exist, they've done practically nothing at
all!

Seriously though, Shapiro represents a number of industries who owe their
entire existence to government programs and initiative. His audacity in
claiming that government doesn't spur innovation and entrepreneurship is
either astoundingly short-sighted or simply maliciously misleading. Given that
Shapiro is a technology industry representative whining about interventions in
the financial and automotive industries, I have to assume that he's simply
abusing his exposure to wax political about his own personal opinions.

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Semiapies
You're trying to make an argument against his throw-away rhetoric. He doesn't
care about innovation - he's got trade policy on his mind.

It's not a great argument, either. If so many billions had been spent at DARPA
without creating _anything_ , that would be truly astonishing. However,
compare that with what's accomplished with rather less money in the private
sector - which developed crucial things, like the transistor and integrated
circuit, that made GPS and ARPANet possible in the first place.

Sure, if we frame the tossed-off line as an absolutist point, it's wrong -
decades after their development, a relative few of these military technologies
turned out to be really useful to the private sector and consumers. However,
it's hard to argue that those huge resources (both monetary and human - a lot
of great engineers and scientists were recruited into DARPA during the Cold
War) would have accomplished any less outside of the military. Would the
Internet have been an academic curiosity for as long as it was if it hadn't
started out as a government project?

Mind you, Shapiro doesn't _care_. He's simply complaining about government
money _he's not getting_.

~~~
blueben
"However, compare that with what's accomplished with rather less money in the
private sector"

You got a little confirmation bias on your shirt there. It's easy to look
around and find successful private-industry projects that had limited budgets.
It's also easy to forget about massive corporate boondoggles that sank
millions or billions of dollars and were then shuttered for lack of practical
use, lack of profitability, or because of project mismanagement. Generally,
nobody notices or cares because the taxpayer didn't lose out.

Though we can never show it, I doubt we would have an internet or GPS
satellite system today if that same time and money were spent by private
industry rather than DARPA. Private industry is notoriously short-sighted, and
have absolutely no interest in the kinds of projects that DARPA (and
government in general) can afford to focus on. No "responsible" corporation
will drop tens of billions of dollars on R&D for projects like "an open spec
global precision navigation system" or "a network where any node can
communicate with any other node using standardized open protocols". There
isn't any profit motive.

BTW, "a relative few of these military technologies turned out to be really
useful" is a gigantic understatement. These technologies spawned billion
dollar industries, enabled the creation of thousands of companies and millions
of jobs, revolutionized our economy and our information infrastructure, and
ignited a cultural revolution. That's more than just "really useful".

As I said, either Shapiro is either short-sighted or maliciously misleading.
I'm personally going for maliciously misleading to further his agenda.

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Semiapies
"massive corporate boondoggles that sank millions or billions of dollars"

In the _billions_? Those are _very_ rare in the private sector and quite
common in government.

"Though we can never show it"

No, you really can't, especially in light of how many private online services
existed before the Intranet was fully opened up.

"Private industry is notoriously short-sighted, and have absolutely no
interest in the kinds of projects that DARPA (and government in general) can
afford to focus on."

Oddly enough, they manage to accomplish quite a bit of long-term work
_without_ throwing tens of billions at any given blue-sky project by one
company.

"BTW, 'a relative few of these military technologies turned out to be really
useful' is a gigantic understatement."

No, it is not. Most of DARPA's work has had no civilian application at all.
That decades of work _after_ DARPA made the Internet useful and that GPS was
opened to civilian use doesn't change that simple fact.

"As I said"

As I said, myself.

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DenisM
Taking an abusive monopolist to task != stifling innovation. Restoring
competitiveness to CPU market will benefit all innovators.

Bailing out UAW (disguised as bailing out GM) != stifling innovation. Wasteful
spending maybe, but by the same token it's also stifling a gazillion other
things like children playground renovation and whatnot.

What's up with this guy?

~~~
blueben
"I have a podium, and I can't resist preaching from it."

