Yeah, but.... Doesn't War sometimes cut the other way?
What about the War on Space? (Soon to become the War on Mars -- there's an irony.) NIck Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology, Clark University ([email protected]) http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ http://www.cusf.org [City University of Santa Fe] > [Original Message] > From: Owen Densmore <[email protected]> > To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[email protected]> > Date: 2/13/2010 10:12:16 AM > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Sources of Innovation > > There's an economic gorilla in the room no one takes seriously: War. > > We're now paying for two wars that are each a greater strain on our > economy than the recession and the stimulus bills. Innovation has > costs that war denies. > > We actually need to get back to capitalism, too. What! Yup. To big > to fail is not capitalism, otherwise the natural course of bankruptcy > would have worked. Consider Eric's comment: "First, start-ups and > smaller businesses must be able to compete on equal terms with their > larger rivals. They don't need favors, just a level playing field." > > I think we have reached ungovernability. Neither party is mine and > neither is effective. We're in gridlock and its not just the > republicans being obstructive. > > On the positive note, I think we've seen the immense hierarchies > discredited. The intelligence services add hierarchy for greater > coordination, and they fail. Less hierarchy, more interaction would > be far better, as we know by diversity and complexity studies. > Another quote: "Second, encouraging risk-taking means tolerating > failure -- provided we learn from it." If our government was agile > enough, we could explore then pull back from failures. > > Getting to Eric's comments (he's a past boss of mine, BTW), as usual > he's right on: > "More than ever, innovation is disruptive and messy. It can't be > controlled or predicted. The only way to ensure it can flourish is to > create the best possible environment -- and then get out of the way. > It's a question of learning to live with a mess." > > How odd that puts us into the Tea Party! > > Eric is right on as usual, and will be ignored. > > -- Owen > > > On Feb 13, 2010, at 6:21 AM, Jochen Fromm wrote: > > > In a recent washingtonpost.com article named > > "Erasing our innovation deficit" ( http://bit.ly/cG6vGW ) > > Eric Schmidt said > > > > "We have been world leaders in [technological] innovation for > > generations. It has driven our economy, employment growth and our > > rising prosperity. > > [..] We can no longer rely on the top-down approach of the 20th > > century, when big investments in the military and NASA spun off to > > the wider economy." > > > > Do you agree? What kind of approach does the > > USA need to return to old strength? > > > > -J. > > > > ============================================================ > > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
