

Tech’s Enduring Great-Man Myth - kome
http://www.technologyreview.com/review/539861/techs-enduring-great-man-myth/

======
mseebach
> To put it another way, do we really think that if Jobs and Musk had never
> come along, there would have been no smartphone revolution, no surge of
> interest in electric vehicles?

This is a really weak argument, especially because we can look at the
alternatives that exist, even with the benefit of being able to refer to the
iPhone and the Tesla.

There was a smartphone revolution that predated the iPhone: BlackBerry. Apple
had the benefit, not just of a ton of government-originated technology, but
also a decade of experience with actual, successful smartphones at BlackBerry.
Nokia had a number of pretty decent smartphones in the market. The Palm Treo
had a bit of a following.

Yet the iPhone was at least an order of magnitude better. The delta between
the sum of the mentioned devices and the first iPhone does not contain lots of
governments funded research, it is almost entirely the work of a very small
circle of visionaries at Apple.

The same applies to Tesla. There exists other electric cars, and they had
existed for a decade or more before the first Roadster was released -- but
they were jokes. Tesla/Musk didn't invent the electric car, they invented
making a sexy electric car. Again, the delta between all electric cars except
Teslas, and Teslas, isn't filled with government research.

Yes, it's disingenuous to suggest that government funded research doesn't
matter and didn't lay the foundation of most modern technology -- but it's
also disingenuous to apply "post hoc ergo procter hoc" to every modern
invention "tainted" by government funded research.

------
scotty79
> Musk insists on a success story that fails to acknowledge the importance of
> support from the government.

His top SpaceX customer is the government. Electric cars are subsidized. Solar
energy too. I don't think there's any point in elaborating on how much Musk is
dependent on government(s). Still, his companies kicked more ass than any
other in markets he picked.

~~~
baseballmerpeak
He is succeeding where others are dropping like flies (looking at you,
_Solyndra_ ).

------
blisterpeanuts
One of the livefyre comments neatly sums up the article:

"You didn't build that!"

