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91 Comments
- MajorMesses, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11he should read this essay by founder of ViaWeb and well-known silicon valley citizen Paul Graham: "How to be Silicon Valley" @ http://paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html
- blitzman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10The big reason is, of course, lower taxes. High taxes in socialist economies like Britain's drive out innovators and risk takers. All Ireland had to do to become a high tech mecca was lower taxes.
- willcode4beer, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12He's missing the point.
Having the Prime Minister meet these guys makes it appear that he thinks the government can do something. The best thing they could do to help innovation is to get the government out of the way. Of course, this is impossible in the UK and increasingly so in the US. - geronimo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7The U.S. didn't get to where it is today by chance. The U.S. lead the automotive revolution(Ford), oil business(Rockefeller), technology(Apple, IBM, Google, etc).
Anyone see a pattern here? Everyone wants to copy the U.S. But there are no quick fixes, there's only a change in mindset. The U.S. possesses a unique combination of naivety and 'can-do' attitude. This causes problems but also creates innovation, as you've seen the U.S. innovate for the last 100 years. This isn't coincidence. 90% of americans are middle class/poor but they think they can rise out of their situation, meanwhile in Europe everyone thinks they're stuck where they are. The government protects them. They talk more about class.
The U.S. doesn't talk about class that much despite income inequalities and a shrinking middle class since 2000. But we have more millionaires than anyone else. Compared to 100 years ago, more of our rich people have made their own money vs inheriting money. It all comes down to attitude in the end. The silicon valley sprung up because of the positive attitude among americans. Same thing with all the other innovative eras the U.S. has created. - Zoids, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11Give up now Tony.
- CurtHowland, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I guess you've never been to Silicon Valley, to make a statement like that.
- CurtHowland, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9Unfortunately, one of the primary causes for the former success of Silicon Valley will elude Mr. Blair because he cannot grasp it:
Silicon Valley grew so fast and so vigorously because "computers" was a nearly complete free-market. Anyone with a new idea could jump right in and build what they wanted, without asking anyone's permission. 80 years ago, Blair would be traveling to Detroit to figure out how to recreate the Motor City "miracle."
Since strict regulation will crush any business, and Mr. Blair is an advocate of strict regulation of every business, the Silicon Valley "miracle" cannot happen under his regime.
The same "miracle" has happened many times in the past. Automobiles, railroads, steel, textiles. Until, that is, the industries become regulated by governments which kills the innovation. Silicon Valley will be the "rust belt" soon enough, just like every other regulated industry. The DMCA was only the beginning. Trusted Computing is next. - picardo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6"Yenile yenile yenmesini ogrenecegim" Old Turkish saying, meaning by being defeated I'll learn how to defeat. I didn't know Silicon Valley had its equivalent: "In the U.S. and especially in Silicon Valley, if you have taken a risk and you fail, you in fact become more interesting and potentially more valuable because now you know something,"
Well, that doesn't have much poetry to it. But I like the idea all the same. - GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I agree with that entirely. You need to change mindsets not fiddle systems. The problem is Britain is stuck between a load of socialists still mourning the death of industry and a load of Conservatives who like to think that people of higher class are there for some god given reason.
Both get in the way and we'd like to get rid of both. It speaks volumes though that the biggest talked about problem facing Britain seems to be immigration rather than a follow the leader mentality. - HPSauce, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6The "secret", Blair? Why don't you stop cutting funding to our tech departments in our unis every year for a start, eh? And the venture capitalists and banks we have over here are just so close minded. Chances are if it's innovative, they'll refuse. The UK will never have anything approaching the innovation and talent of SV as a result of this.
Not that the Government cares, most of them have just discovered what email does! - elamr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6"California had great companies too. For instance, where would Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak be without HP, Atari, and Xerox?"
Silicon Valley is a "perfect storm" of innovation. Rich, open-minded, risk taking investors, brilliant geeks, scientists and entrepreneurs. - Zoids, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9Like rugby and Rounders!
- corevette, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I live in Mountain View, home of Google, Mozilla, and many other's nearby. The Bay Area/Silicon Valley is a great place to live. The only downside is the housing cost. Prices are pretty darn high around here.
- tuna1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I don't think land in California has ever been cheap when compared to the national average, let alone in Silicon Valley.
- jellygraph, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7The secret to success is not talent, sharp minds, rising stars, universities or whatever. The secret is investors with deep pockets, who are willing to take a risk, and companies that are willing to hire people based on their skills and not assets or which university they went to and social class ranking. Far too many times, I've seen and heard of some snotty rich kid landing a £80K job at some banking firm right out of uni, even if he did a degree on the anal retention of a giraffe and barely passed after 3 retakes, just because he has connections in his family. And that's what the UK needs. Throw out all the junk to the street. Invest in the middle and lower class. Most rich people here keep their money for themselves.
- RadiantBeing, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5California had great companies too. For instance, where would Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak be without HP, Atari, and Xerox?
- hormelmeatco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I wouldn't be so quick to paint all government involvement as a bad thing. Think about it: DARPA was a government project, and became the Internet. A huge reason computers are such a big deal now is because of the Internet.
Also, universities like Berkely are public colleges, which obviously means government funding. If everything depended purely on private investment, things might have taken alot longer to get started. Why? It wouldn't catch on fire and start rolling until there's money to be made in it! In the 1960s, developing something like DARPA might not have been very profitable for an entity (such as a company) whose only legal obligation is to make money.... - Zoids, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8"We're not sure why you have to have all the padding though... "
Schoolkids here play rugby without padding. Yet go to america.... - SpacedCowboy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Actually, (ahem), we were fairly happy about those two - it means we can get on with playing real games like football :-).
We're not sure why you have to have all the padding though... - GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7So obvious it evades so many people. When 50% of the population is employed by the state what hope is there for a person with guts and an idea.
- anti-net, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7would rather he seeked sucess as our Prime Minister.....
- lepton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I think the Calif educational system in the late 60s and the 70s helped. Everything from free community colleges to great tech schools and so on. Calif was trying to attract engineers at the time, and they did. It's not nearly as good as it was, but I think that contributed a lot.
- kdehead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4i agree. the "can do" attitude of Americans was terrific to work with when i was in the States for a while.
Europe just doesnt have that get-up-and-go attitude. - GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9G.W. Bush is proof that you can't teach a monkey to speak the Queen's English.
They make a beautiful pair, the well spoken poodle and the rambling moron. - Archimboldo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Your link was more interesting than the original article.
- mandarin, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Nice, a failure makes you more knowledgeable and thus is a part of success. I like it.
Now since I have a lot of failures, I just need to capitalize on it. - twak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3graham is a geek god. reading his site is time well spent...
- Celeron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I'm thinking about moving to Mountain View after I graduate from SJSU. Had to go to Mountain View for the Computer History Museum for one of my classes. Got lost for 2 hours trying to get home, so I was driving around in circles around MV exploring the scenery.
- FishyJoe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It doesn't hurt that the bay area is one of the best places to live, if you can afford the housing.
- jinushaun, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@GMorgan
"the Great British public have a problem with people making money"
Reminds me of an article from CAR or Top Gear where the editor was test driving the new GT40 or Lamborghini (can't remember which) on the streets of NYC. The thing that struck him the most was the cultural difference between Americans and Brits in the way they reacted to the supercar.
- A Briton would've cried out in anger, "flash bastard", and then spit on the car
- An American would've said to themselves, "I'll own that car one day, just you watch" - kdehead, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4a well educated workforce was also a major factor in ireland's success. while education standards in the uk have progressively dumbed down over the past 20 years, the opposite has happened in Ireland - the exams to get into Irish university (the "leaving cert") have gotten harder and harder.
- GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Loads of people have education, the British education system is quite strong. What we also have is a state which thinks it can reliably predict the market, refusing planning permissions on any sort of nonsense*. We also have a system where the public can cripple any attempt at planning with a complaint whether valid or not and trust me the Great British public have a problem with people making money (well in a lot of areas).
Not to mention if you do setup a facility you'll have gangs of kids trying to throw stones through the windows and you aren't allowed to defend your property in Britain unless your life is in danger.
*Planning should only be denied on issues of H&S, Infrastructure and Environmental factors in protected areas. Not because a hyped up civil servant thinks theres no market. I have more than a few friends who've fallen foul of our egotistical state employee morons. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Remember Scotland's Silicon Glen? Nuff said :)
http://www.techonline.com/community/ed_resource/feature_article/7813 - willcode4beer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I wasn't trying to start a socialism vs. capitalism debate here. I was trying to point out that getting the government (any kind) involved (in anything) tends to produce the opposite of the intended results.
But, to weigh in on the running debate. Has anyone noticed that the European countries with more socialism have higher unemployment and weaker economies (GDP per capita) than those with less? - N3wtR0ckn13, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2yeah, it's expensive. it's mostly urban sprawl unless you can afford million dollar homes.
- Eldoo77, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Thanks for spamming... NOW GO AWAY!!!
- CurtHowland, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2No kidding! The finest climate of anywhere I've lived. I rode my motorcycle to work 365 days a year! (maybe it only seemed as if I had no time off...)
- geronimo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Why do you think I decided not to plant myself in Europe and continue working there? My stint in Europe was interesting, I enjoyed the beautiful architecture and culture, the people, languages, not tripping over tons of homeless people. But for me I'm not living unless I use my full potential and that's only done in the sink-or-swim USA. There's stability in instability. Sure you can get fired for blinking in the USA, but do your job well and you'll have no problems. Countries like France, one of the places I've lived, try to mandate stability, which of course results in 10% unemployment rate ie instability.
The downside is the swim part of sink-or-swim.. we have lots of homeless people. We like to think of them as 'deserving' it. It's cold, I know, but that's just how the USA is. There are some protections but they're not that great.
Also we have a ton of really ignorant people.. consumers, pawns if you will, who make the top people rich. These masses are the people left behind but they're still amazingly positive about their future. The fact is if they can get beyond their ignorance, turning off MTV, and take advantage of the USA then they too can do well. This explains why we have Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Rockefeller, ... These people are very smart, introespective people who made their own fortunes. Then we have all those studies showing how ignorant and uneducated Americans are. They don't concern me because if they can think "outside the matrix" then they have a chance.
I'm just one paycheck away from homelessness, but if it works out, it could be very good. I like those odds. - socbret, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6The factor's seemed pretty obvious. Has he been living under a rock for the last 20 years?
- Rufunki, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Wouldn't the pot smoking hippies (think creators of UNIX, and Steve Woznick), college dropouts (like Bill Gates), and Fry's electronics (back in the 80's) be the reason why silicone valley is silicone valley.
- jellygraph, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I agree that it should be lowered, but not significantly nor out of principle, just that its a little too high here and the societies culture here cant support the same sort of high standards as scandinavia with its socialist economy for the moment, until they get rid of this class division thats in place and shake things up a bit.
- overlordmead, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3It is called pretense. He is in CA to get his "Official Bohemian Grove" robes fitted before the weekend. They say earlier the better as there is a huge rush right before the weekend lest Molomb be angered by the hubris of his puny human underlings.
- danielctull, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2One failure does not equal proof though...
Now where's my queen monkey. - GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2To keep it in perspective I don't think we are as bad as some of the other countries in Europe but to quote Jeremy Clarkson thats like saying 'I have Syphilis, the best of the sexually transmitted diseases'*.
Being not so bad in comparison to an area crippled by the remnants of socialism is hardly huge bragging rights.
*Original quote in reference to the Renault Espace being the best People Carrier on the market. - geekee, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4"-Make easier for people to take risks (universal medical coverage...)"
Universal health care is paid for by productive people, and to a large degree rich people, which means less money for them to invest in new ventures. Social programs, in general, drag down an economy by requiring productive people to give the product of their labor to those less productive. This does have benefits for society, but claiming it will help boost an economy sounds like leftist propaganda. - CurtHowland, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2DARPA, yeah, but it was a drop in the bucket until the NFS absolved itself of control of the routing tables, and the prohibition against commercial traffic was thereby dropped.
I was there. The 'Net only took off once government got out of the way. The basic protocols were developed not by government, but by the cooperative Internet Engineering Task Force, which merely allowed coordinated action by people employed by private companies and grad students.
Nothing like the Internet as it is now was envisioned by government. The closest they got was the "Information Superhighway" which would have been 6 peering points while everyone was legally prohibited to peer anywhere else. All traffic would have had to pass through government routers/firewalls. This is pure DARPA, and you see this as a good thing? - sapo916, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Minimal Crap from the Government and Geeks.
- wizgha, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Amen to that, even though it seems to be pretty much the same the world over.
- Narrator, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Bet he won't read the book "What the Dormouse Said: How the 60s Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer " which says that the silicon valley phenomenon is due to the permissive drug culture in the bay area. That and it's a great place to live so techies don't mind moving here.
- vagabond0101, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I gave ur survey
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