Nice summary, thank you. As a German who has spend significant time in the US, too, I could not put my finger on the missing part within all these pessimistic other comments. But it is there: Germany and the US are still very similar, if you leave some details aside. Just the timing is problematic at the moment. We will see. One big question is whether we can stop the AfD. The next big question is if we can channel all the energy from young people to do the necessary changes that the current old generation couldn't, for various reasons. Don't be blinded: Not just Germany is in a transition phase, the whole world is. One (of many) fragile moment(s) in the history of humans.
This is what I meant with timing: Germany's innovative younger people are held captive by a large conservative older generation that is pushing for security, which leads to overarching bureaucracy. This is especially bad in Germany because the government tries to regulate every tiny detail. Due to missing digitalization, they are failing on a grant scale.
On the other hand, this doesn't mean as you say that Germany has no potential to be an innovation hub. It just cannot use the potential currently. If you live here, you will see many good signs: Open source is strong. Chaos Computer Club mentality spreads and there is a fighting back against the government digital opression.
>you will see many good signs: Open source is strong. Chaos Computer Club mentality spreads and there is a fighting back against the government digital opression.
Sure, but those things alone don't build future product companies and market leaders worth trillions of dollars.
