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0 pointsatleastoptimal3y ago0 comments

The more I read stuff like this the more I realize all countries on Earth should pay thanks to the USA and all the great advances it has gifted the world with. And I'm not being facetious it's really crazy just how much advances in the United States have forwarded technological progress. Please tell every seething European to thank America for keeping them safe from Russia too.

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steve_adams_863y ago· 2 in thread

I’m not ungrateful but I’m also not convinced it isn’t the product of having significant power over most of the planet such that wealth and resources in order to fund and sustain R&D are easily obtained. A tremendous amount of brain drain occurs due to the USA as well, and has for a very long time. The knowledge and skill going into these accomplishments isn’t all native to American soil.

So I wonder. Is it really the USA simply being the best or is it globalism with one very powerful player reaping the most rewards? Kind of a right time, right place situation. Perhaps in both cases you might think thanks are still in order.

jvanderbot3y ago

The magic is partially the wealth, but more a sense of transparent, free, public research. Moreso, peel back the layers and find the 1st or 2nd generation immigrant scientists, educated USA or abroad, who came here, obtained citizenship or LPR status, and helped create both this collaborative culture and the discoveries themselves (maybe not in that order). Yes, it is a global effort, and yes, USA deserves credit for creating and fostering creation.

alistairSH3y ago

Right time, right place. Europe was wrecked after WWII.

throw0101b3y ago

> The more I read stuff like this the more I realize all countries on Earth should pay thanks to the USA and all the great advances it has gifted the world with.

Before the US was the UK with the industrial revolution. After that it was DE with a lot of science (many of the important journals were in German pre-WW2) and chemistry. For the latter, and how the UK dropped the ball on having a chemical industry, see the book Mauve:

* https://www.simongarfield.com/books/mauve/

* https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/580291.Mauve

Just because the US has carried the baton recently doesn't mean others haven't.

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