Thread: What happened to our intelligence?

Since Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and other great founders have passed away. America seems to just lie solemnly on what has happened. Apart from Bill Gates, Donald Trump, and a few others we have yet to make an impact on the world/economy as they did. Sure we made a trip to the moon..big deal. I really don't see everyone evacuating Earth and jetting to the moon in the near future. As for the "Global Warming" I personally think the name is wrong for it..it should be more along the lines of "Global Climate Change" as we get warmer here in the U.S. it's getting colder in Australia. I just really don't see with our technology and with there lack of technology back in the day how they seem to have made more advances than we have.

Maybe we became too greedy. Looks like our car makers aren't stepping up fast enough to alternatives to oil and Japan is beating the shit out of them.

I was watching an episode of modern marvels on the history channel the other day and it was about 80s technology and I realized how many things of the big gadgets we have now really came from that time and from Japan. CDs and VCRs which lead to DVDs, cell phones, etc...
The only real major one that came from the U.S. to some extent was the personal computer. It seems like everything we call high tech now is really just a faster, smaller, and improved version of things that really started to first catch on 20-30 years ago and many of those truely first came in to being before that. We really advanced during the industrial revolution and such but in the last few decades we have really become a service economy that simply improves on old ideas and makes thing more efficient rather than coming up with anything new. They say necessity is the mother of all invention and maybe we are just too comfortable now. I think the whole things about cutting cost and increasing efficiency is because companies can concentrate on that and increase profits rather than actually making something new which takes even more research and development.

Originally Posted by andrew789

Since Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and other great founders have passed away. America seems to just lie solemnly on what has happened. Apart from Bill Gates, Donald Trump, and a few others we have yet to make an impact on the world/economy as they did. Sure we made a trip to the moon..big deal. I really don't see everyone evacuating Earth and jetting to the moon in the near future. As for the "Global Warming" I personally think the name is wrong for it..it should be more along the lines of "Global Climate Change" as we get warmer here in the U.S. it's getting colder in Australia. I just really don't see with our technology and with there lack of technology back in the day how they seem to have made more advances than we have.

Exactly how many great minds of an era do you expect?

You point out Merrill Lynch, J P Morgan and Rockefeller and then seem somehow to think that the existence of Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Warren Buffet, Larry Ellison, and others dont even count.

Lynch, Morgan, et. al. were the captains of industry in their day just as Gates and Ellison would be today.

I really dont understand what your post is supposed to mean. Are you complaining that no one looks at Gates with the same nostalgia they look at Morgan? Of course they dont! Gates is still quite alive!

I also fail to see how you think the US hasnt made many advances. Sure, we went to the moon..(you write that off like it is an everyday occurance), but lets see...what else do we have...hm....how about the IC chip? Thats kinda a biggie. Without it, you wouldnt have a computer. What else? Hm...how far back you want to go?

Every major and most minor advances in the computer industry have come out of the US. Then there are other little industries such as telecommunications, aerospace, chemical, pharmaceutical, etc. The US contributions in these areas are hardly trivial.

What has Austrailia given the world, since you think its better than the US. Lets see...we've got Crocodile Dundee and Fosters. Thats pretty well about it.

How old are you son? I am guessing about 16 with that kind of incredible insight.

Originally Posted by partofme

I was watching an episode of modern marvels on the history channel the other day and it was about 80s technology and I realized how many things of the big gadgets we have now really came from that time and from Japan. CDs and VCRs which lead to DVDs, cell phones, etc...
The only real major one that came from the U.S. to some extent was the personal computer. It seems like everything we call high tech now is really just a faster, smaller, and improved version of things that really started to first catch on 20-30 years ago and many of those truely first came in to being before that. We really advanced during the industrial revolution and such but in the last few decades we have really become a service economy that simply improves on old ideas and makes thing more efficient rather than coming up with anything new. They say necessity is the mother of all invention and maybe we are just too comfortable now. I think the whole things about cutting cost and increasing efficiency is because companies can concentrate on that and increase profits rather than actually making something new which takes even more research and development.

Many of those devices came from Japan, but much of the technology was developed here.

Now i'll grant you that the US has not exactly been living up to its standards, but to claim we have had no contributions is short-sighted at best.

What has Austrailia given the world, since you think its better than the US. Lets see...we've got Crocodile Dundee and Fosters. Thats pretty well about it.
-EricOKC

Never did I or would i tempt to say that Australia is better than America. I gave credit to Bill Gates. But what I am saying is that we cease to come up with new inventions we just improve on what the pioneers of the Industrial Revolution gave us. Buffet made money through the stock market, kinda relates to what where I am coming from. Sure he did his thing but, all he did was build on what he had learned from the past. As for space technology..tell me where do you think that is going.

Originally Posted by andrew789

Never did I or would i tempt to say that Australia is better than America. I gave credit to Bill Gates. But what I am saying is that we cease to come up with new inventions we just improve on what the pioneers of the Industrial Revolution gave us. Buffet made money through the stock market, kinda relates to what where I am coming from. Sure he did his thing but, all he did was build on what he had learned from the past. As for space technology..tell me where do you think that is going.

Fair enough on Austrailia. I misread it. My mistake.

As far as space tech, what do you want from it? It took us thousands of years to even get into space, and in an extremely short span we have gone to the moon and sent probes to other planets. Did you expect advances in leaps and bounds? Are we supposed to be colonizing Mars by now?

Originally Posted by EricOKC

Fair enough on Austrailia. I misread it. My mistake.

As far as space tech, what do you want from it? It took us thousands of years to even get into space, and in an extremely short span we have gone to the moon and sent probes to other planets. Did you expect advances in leaps and bounds? Are we supposed to be colonizing Mars by now?

No to the colonizing thing, but the government is just wasting our money on pointless things...we can't live there. There is no oxygen, the land is infertile, and it most definately isn't big enough. Personally I say we let Russia spend there money on it and when they somehow make it livable we follow in pursuit.If I had a choice I would put my money into researching the Ocean it's closer and yet we still no less about it than space. But back to the topic of how OUR COUNTRY has settled with just improving past time inventions...and ceased originality.

Originally Posted by andrew789

Since Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and other great founders have passed away. America seems to just lie solemnly on what has happened. Apart from Bill Gates, Donald Trump, and a few others we have yet to make an impact on the world/economy as they did. Sure we made a trip to the moon..big deal.

I wasn't aware that making gobs and gobs of money is the only sign of intelligence.

Originally Posted by Donkey_Left

I wasn't aware that making gobs and gobs of money is the only sign of intelligence.

Never did I quote that having money is a sign of intelligence. I'm not degrading the US. I'm just promoting an issue that I think people should be concerned about.