Last evening, John Doerr, the famous Silicon Valley venture capitalist, was talking down the American economy on the Charlie Rose Show with a comparison between Singapore and the U.S. He stated the Singapore had a per capita GDP of $37,000, while the U.S. has a per capita GDP of $30,000 and that therefore Singapore is a good model (authoritarian) of what can be done with technology.
But of course, his figures are rubbish. The per capita GDP of the U.S. is $40,000, rather than the $30,000 he quoted. The per capita GDP of Singapore is $27,000, rather than the $37,000 he quoted. Furthermore, the U.S. has 300 million capitas, while Singapore has 4 million. The conclusions we draw from these figures are directly opposite of what Doerr proposed.
What interest do technologists have to talk down the American economy and how we do things with regard to technology (education, R&D, etc.)?
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