What is Digg?272 Comments
- CaptainNoPants, on 10/12/2007, -44/+151Since when was the U.S. the tech king? I thought China/Japan were leading the tech push.
- Auto, on 10/12/2007, -3/+70Psst. We weren't even a country in 1700. Just a tip.
- satori3000, on 10/12/2007, -16/+74The Chinese fighter the J10 is built half from stolen tech from America from the f16 and half from bought tech from Israel from the dead Lavi Jet program (and some of the tech from that is also based on the f16). China is great at stealing technology, but hardly a leader. The best thing they have going for them is a sea of hackers... and maybe WoW farmers.
- spudnic, on 10/12/2007, -3/+511700-1903 Britain pretty much lead the world in technology
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -10/+56We don't innovate anymore, we outsource.
- thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -17/+62No, what has led to the US falling behind in tech development is much more than just "economic conservativism"
1.) we haven't had a reason to develop new technology (no space race, no war{until recently}, no monopolies like AT&T that had bell labs and could dump huge sums of money into research)
2.) much more worrying about how technology will hinder our lives than improve it
3.) patent trolls
4.) move to service-based economy from product-based economy
5.) lawsuits against new technologies due to stupid misuse
6.) Intellectual property ONLY companies (see #3) - MaximusIGN, on 10/12/2007, -27/+71This is exactly the goal of the Christian Fundamentalists with G W Bush leading the charge. Less science and understanding leads people back to the middle ages and believing that pray is the solution to all problems. Case in point, is the goverment getting involved in faith based initiatives which support teaching of religion instead of science in schools.
Then burning all the US treasury on a theocracy based crusade in the Middle East. The US is currently second to last in the world in the believe of evolution, losing out to Turkey. Even the population of Iran and Afghanistan have a higher acceptance.
What a sad state of affairs. - shrewduser, on 10/12/2007, -17/+60"Since when was the U.S. the tech king? I thought China/Japan were leading the tech push."
china and japan don't even make top 10.
its not so much based on what people on the street believe, or even where tech is manafactured... its a table measuring the impact of technology on development. (economic)
this is just my opinion, but i would probably say a push towards more economic conservatism is whats behind the U.S falling behind in areas which it traditionally dominates... - LowRentDiggs, on 10/12/2007, -15/+39"this is just my opinion, but i would probably say a push towards more economic conservatism"
How is the US economically conservative? - patience, on 10/12/2007, -1/+24Speakers? They make good BLONDES.
- MercedRocks, on 10/12/2007, -5/+22Considering the abysmal state of our primary education system is it any wonder?
With less than half of students recently able to find NEW YORK STATE on a map, science and tech proficiency are lofty goals. We can only steal the educated people of the world for so long, China's a perfect example. - returnofmalv, on 10/12/2007, -9/+25Still the number 1 exporter of war. Go USA!
- MercedRocks, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17I think it may really come down to R & D, and perhaps all the billions of dollars that investors here are willing and able to pour into it may just be what keeps us afloat.
The Global Information Technology Report rankings
http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Global%20Information%20Technology%20Report/index.htm
1. Denmark
2. Sweden
3. Singapore
4. Finland
5. Switzerland
6. Netherlands
7. US
8. Iceland
9. UK
10.Norway
11.Canada
12.Hong Kong SAR
13.Taiwan, China
14.Japan
15.Australia - InetRoadkill, on 10/12/2007, -6/+20We used to have the lead in technology, but not much anymore. Military systems seem to be the only area that has survived.
I have to find high-tech subsystems to build the stuff we use at work. It's getting nearly impossible to find stuff here in the US. I'm having to go to suppliers in China, Japan, Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands. I really don't want to. It's a pain in the ass dealing with foreign suppliers. - mortigon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15God dammit WoW... all of our nerds are too busy for anything else now.
- Dissonance, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17Countries were judged on technological advancements in general business, the infrastructure available and the extent to which government policy creates a framework necessary for economic development and increased competitiveness.
In these criteria the U.S. certainly shows some strength. The low taxes and efficient market system has always created great incentives for companies to innovate, and for investors to take some more risk.
We still have so many of the leading companies (eg Google, Intel) but now it seems that other countries are creating better environments from which to innovate. Thoughtful policy changes are badly needed. We could also use some government help in creating Korean style broadband across this vast nation.
Another controversial suggestion: perhaps making it easier for foreigners who come here to get advanced degrees at MIT and Stanford to stay and get a green card? It doesn't make sense to train these people here and then make them go back to India or China so they can use their skills there.
Any other ideas? - maggiemerc, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14@TheGuruStud
Over generalizations are retarded. Geeze I was born in Texas and went to school in Tennessee, but I believe in evolution, hell I read /. I'm so flippin' tired of people hating on where I live. You know there are morons all over the nation? Amazing but true. And metropolitan does not equal intelligence. It's that kind of opinion that has continues the big culture gap developing in the U.S.
@flag564
I don't know if higher birth rate is an indication of lack mental deficiency. Personally I think Idiocracy summed up the birth rate question pretty well. - whiteboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12A lot of it is due to the fact that many companies have cut or gotten rid of research & development due to the fact that it doesn't generate direct revenue. If it doesn't make money on paper they want nothing to do with it. Case in point: AT&T, IBM, & GE used to be some of the leading companies in R&D, but those areas aren't nearly as prevalent as they once were.
- stonedgeek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Oh yeah? Well what about the giant robotic Michael Jackson?
- Berkana, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11@ictoan:
Japan's work with technology cannot be compared to China. Japan used to imitate foreign technology, but make it better, and within a generation or two, would be so far ahead due to refinement and incremental improvements that they would dominate. China has never done such a thing. China's primary activity when it comes to foreign technology is making counterfeit copies with inferior implementation, having set up parallel industries that steal technology invested by foreigners in China due to cheap labor.
China used to be a world leader in innovation, back in the Imperial days, but modern China really cannot even be compared to Japan in the 70's and 80's when it comes to originality, invention, and innovation. This is not to say that there aren't Chinese innovators; it's just that they don't live in China. Top US firms, and many in Canada and the UK employ tons of Chinese engineers (ethnicity, not nationality) who have emigrated. Part of the problem is that China has experienced a massive brain drain. They send students to foreign countries to study, intending that they would come home and lift up Chinese industry, but something like 60% of the students they send away opt not to move back. (This was covered in an article at BBC.)
I'm not dissing China; I'm just being honest. (I myself am ethnically Chinese. Almost every Chinese student whom I've known to have studied in the US has no intention to ever move back to China, Hong Kong, nor Taiwan, and a large portion of those who come here just for college have similar intentions.) China could do something about this by improving the quality of life impacted indirectly by many of their policies; the envirnoment, for example, and human rights. Air quality alone is a huge factor when it comes to the sense of well being that makes many Chinese emigrants feel like they can breathe easier in the US than they can in China. - ru13r, on 10/12/2007, -14/+25China? Are you serious. The Chinese have not invented or innovated anything significant in recent times. One of their former top academic got caught stealing a processor design he said he invented (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4771583.stm). The Chinese have no skill in creating new things. Their only strength is doing things cheaper then the rest of the world. Name one thing the Chinese invented in the past decade that we use here in America. They could never compete with us head to head in a technological showdown. Their whole culture is based on respecting elders and teachers not questioning them like we do in US colleges. Even though they are strong in engineering in mathematics they lack the ethos that Americans have of innovation and invention. We invented the internet / integrated circuits / ect... No one has come close to the dominance that America has had in technological inventions for the past few decades. This list is dumb anyone can come up with their own criteria and make a top 10 list. But in the real world we are still the most technologically advance society due to our huge funding (more than any country in the world look at the NSF budget) in science and our #1 ranked university system. When America is not the first to the next big internet-like breakthrough (which i bet will be in bioengineering) then you can say we have lost our positon as number 1. otherwise bury this crap as inaccurate/lame.
- wolphcry, on 10/12/2007, -6/+16We still have cell company that use CDMA, Our "3G" is not a true 3g network. Don't even go into Broadband speeds to our homes. You can can 100MB fiber for less then I pay for cable in Japan.
- bewing77, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10The e-government stuff (we have that kind of stuff here in Sweden aswell) basicly means that you can access all authority services 24/7 online. We can do our taxes online, register relocation online, register a new business online etc. In the near future we may even be voting online (which is a big deal, 80%+ votes in our elections). It saves you having to que for hours to get things like this done, and it also means there is less need for clerks.
Another big thing is that almost everyone pays their bills and do their banking online. I can't remember the last time I visited a physical bank. I don't know how common this is in the US though. - illt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9We still have IBM, intel, amd(ati), sun, microsoft, apple, cisco, oracle, XM/sirius, google, yahoo, Motorola, Dell, seagate, western digital, HP, canon, Agilent, Qualcomm, Sandisk, nVidia, ETC ETC ETC.
i think we're still doing ok in terms of economic muscle to throw around. - j.carcinogen, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12Yeah when I see Google, AMD, Intel, Apple etc. stop making the headlines I'll agree. Besides this doesn't take into account Military technology from which the likes of GPS and the internet were born.
- NanoStuff, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Wow, the nordics are absolutely kicking ass. I'd like to live in Denmark, seems like a top class country, and damn do they make good speakers!
- Tenoq, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9@ lowrentdiggs - US has implemented a number of 'protectionist' economic policies since Bush was elected: in terms of market capitalism, this is conservative behaviour and artificially changes economic conditions. The article is more about how technology is being used to advance economies - it would seem that European countries are now taking the lead in what IT can do for business and their national economies.
Australia is 15th - surprising really, given our Government's backward attitude on infrastructure development. - galore, on 10/12/2007, -5/+12" Out of curiosity how many of you forget that the sad state of education is due in part to Liberals taking it over and turning the system into a garbage dump?"
1. Denmark
2. Sweden
3. Singapore
4. Finland
5. Switzerland
6. Netherlands
Too bad that 5 out of the 6 countries beating the US in this matter are Liberal havens, compared to the US. How does that inconvenient fact fit into your silly worldview? - Mc_Carter, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Doc Brown: No wonder this camera doesn't work it was made in Japan.
Marty McFly: Doc all the best stuff is made in Japan.
- Back to the Future 1985 - xeno439, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11Notice Japan is not even on the list. This index has to do with management and rules, not who makes the best stuff.
- KibibyteBrain, on 10/12/2007, -7/+14Well, the US is still to a large extent the world design king. But the fact is, it doesn't matter anymore. US engineers spend 3 months a year in Asia now, French technical talent can spend months and months in the US or Asia, and Asian engineers spend a good deal of time in the US too. The high tech powerhouse that developed in the US isn't moving, but expanding to encompass the whole world.
@ Inet Components moved out of the US a long time ago with manufacturing, but as seen by Apple's infamous "Designed in California" slogan, much actual design is done in the US, where our university system is a major help. - mekman, on 10/12/2007, -12/+19Ahh, yes, another European based "World" organization stating that the US is now second rate to...
wait for it...
Europeans - CGreen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Switzerland is not part of scandinavia, Sweden however is. Can it really be that hard to distinguish the two from one another?
- DigiRaven, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8What was it like to be the only one that failed history class?
- aukxsona, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9are you talking about our American students?
Here's a hint. In your country do they try to separate the family? Do they take children for sucking their thumb or because they are breastfed by a healthy mother at 4 months old? Do they take them based upon allegations with out evidence what so ever? Do companies market to children in order to influence their parents spending...sometimes to the detriment of the child?
Answer these questions.
Will the government try to take your child if you don't own a TV?
Will the government try to take your child because your parents were lousy?
Will the school do testing on your child for IQ, personality, psych, and interview your child with out a lawyer or parent present?
Can the government force you to medicate your child with drugs which are not even sold or recommended by the FDA for minors?
If you refuse comply on the basis that the FDA did not approve it for minors will they take your child?
If you answered yes to any of those...you should know why our children drop out. They separate the family and remove the social support...leaving the child confused and afraid. Then at 18 the child is dumped into society usually with less than a High school diploma. 30 percent of America's children experience this. Of that 30 percent less than 2 percent ever attempt college. Of the 2 percent that do attempt only 15 percent ever receive an AA. Fifty percent of all government sanctioned kidnaps result in maladjusted adults, with little to no education, and no viable means to support themselves, mental health issues ranging from PTSD to Social Anxiety, fewer than half are housed after foster care and less than half employed. If your government had a policy that produced these statistics would it continue this social program?
My government does. I am one of the few that has graduated with a degree working on my second. These children are taken sometimes for ridiculous reasons, the parents never get the children back as the children are shuffled around, sold, or abused by perverts with in the system. (See current Juvenile sex scandal in Texas) Children are at higher risk, it has been proven, in foster care systems...to sexual assault, violence, neglect, etc.. while in these programs.
Don't assume. The government is waging a war against American Parents that don't meet the standards...the rule is keep up with Jones Family and spend your money away to indebtedness, or lose Johnny. It specifically states any impoverished conditions are grounds for removal. - joshuakuhn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I graduated from high school in South Carolina in 2002... Where was all this creationism philosophy when I was in middle and high school?!? Strictly evolution theory taught at school...
- mrASSMAN, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7afruff: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060810-evolution.html
graph: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/images/060810-evolution_big.jpg
sad. - xeno439, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7who wants to immigrate to the US?
Uh, ever heard of Mexico? - Ichibanit, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6
Well, just to name the biggest:
C++, C#, PHP, Ruby on Rails, Skype.
Both Nokia, Sony Ericssson, Microsoft has major development departments in Denmark. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -8/+13Bravo! The Europeons finally invented a benchmark that put them ahead of the U.S. Let's hope this will make them feel better as they battle marauding "youths" over control of their train stations.
- bewing77, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7lol, "close enough"... just like DC and Texas are close enough, right? Switzerland is about 1250 miles from Sweden, speak a different language and have a completely different culture.
- Radan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Yeah, it was more or less in Britain that the whole industrial revolution began in the early 19:th century, if I remember correctly.
- DeskFlyer, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8But we're good at starting ill-advised wars!
- TheActionCombo, on 10/12/2007, -9/+14Because last time I built a PC it used a microprocessor developed in Denmark...
NASA? The U.S. military? Intel? AMD? IBM? Apple? Boeing? Lockheed Martin?
If we aren't the leaders in technology, then I'd love to see some tangible evidence...not rambling from a bitter and biased news outlet.
Also, it amuses me that Iceland is ranked higher than Russia. The article and the ranking are a joke. - 1337zork, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Correct, I made a post about this before this, called Denmark ranks number one ... etc .. and no diggs. Now, a dumb title with "US no longer number one" hits the frontpage. Wtf.
- Georgy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6how can it be,if half their students dropout and think workin in a super market will pay all their bills...
- Silverjam, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Dunno what weights are used for this list.
The Danish government has done quite a lot on promoting Open Source, which might be an issue here. - joshuakuhn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4yes, arunarun, really true... and i've got this bridge you may be interested in...
- CGreen, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Since it's not close at all, it's just plain wrong.
- theblogverse, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7The US isn't the king of *****. Just because they made all their money during and after WW2 then stole people and knowledge from other countries there is this bizarre self opinion that they actually rock. Most Americans are ignorant self involved consumerist sheep who make the world a worse place just for existing.
aaahhh... thanks... that felt good. -
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