Doesn't it take a while for governmental powers to catch up with industry, either to milk it for proceeds or to reign in its excesses for (supposedly) humanitarian reasons? A European vs American vs Chinese vs general Asian (including capitalistic tigers and cubs) comparison is instructive, but how not to conflate age of a civilization (and decline), with political philosophy and policy (and various ends in mind), with geographic and cultural differences (size, diversity), with a proposed intrinsic bias towards innovation and its capitalization? The new, the free, the large and diverse, the capitalistic and wealth-seeking all favor innovation.
The question of humanization rides over top of all of that. An important question is what drives entrepreneurship. If it's money-making only or primarily, some other force will have to humanize industry's excesses. But a lot of innovation derives from a genuine desire to help (I think) -- and from a desire to make money at the same time. But the temptation to stray from one's ideals enters soon enough. My daughter loves to support small eco startups, but then they "scale," their quality inevitable declines, and she gets mad at them every time for selling out. My husband works for a hearing aid start-up, and they've faced the all too typical tradeoff between focus on product and company integrity vs pleasing the VC -- and FDA regulators. You can't have innovation and humanistic business without investment, but investors and government authorities will all have their pound of flesh in the end.
Love the car race story. How many entrepreneurs put their literal lives on the line (not just financial) to prove the worth of their products!?
As I was reading this I couldn't help but wonder if the US and China will continue to be the innovators that they are today. Just as Europe was the instigator of economic growth and innovation a few centuries, both US and China might gave way to new (or perhaps former) drivers of innovation? Perhaps Nigeria, India, or Brazil?
It's a great question. I do think, by all measures, other countries are becoming more innovative. But the requirement for resources is growing too, which benefits the US. I'm optimistic countries will specialize and create even more innovation!
Doesn't it take a while for governmental powers to catch up with industry, either to milk it for proceeds or to reign in its excesses for (supposedly) humanitarian reasons? A European vs American vs Chinese vs general Asian (including capitalistic tigers and cubs) comparison is instructive, but how not to conflate age of a civilization (and decline), with political philosophy and policy (and various ends in mind), with geographic and cultural differences (size, diversity), with a proposed intrinsic bias towards innovation and its capitalization? The new, the free, the large and diverse, the capitalistic and wealth-seeking all favor innovation.
The question of humanization rides over top of all of that. An important question is what drives entrepreneurship. If it's money-making only or primarily, some other force will have to humanize industry's excesses. But a lot of innovation derives from a genuine desire to help (I think) -- and from a desire to make money at the same time. But the temptation to stray from one's ideals enters soon enough. My daughter loves to support small eco startups, but then they "scale," their quality inevitable declines, and she gets mad at them every time for selling out. My husband works for a hearing aid start-up, and they've faced the all too typical tradeoff between focus on product and company integrity vs pleasing the VC -- and FDA regulators. You can't have innovation and humanistic business without investment, but investors and government authorities will all have their pound of flesh in the end.
Love the car race story. How many entrepreneurs put their literal lives on the line (not just financial) to prove the worth of their products!?
So many good points, Tracy! I won’t pretend to have all the answers there, but I agree that finding the balance is critical.
You’re right about entrepreneurs putting their life on the line for this! The risks people were willing to take back then were just incredible.
As I was reading this I couldn't help but wonder if the US and China will continue to be the innovators that they are today. Just as Europe was the instigator of economic growth and innovation a few centuries, both US and China might gave way to new (or perhaps former) drivers of innovation? Perhaps Nigeria, India, or Brazil?
It's a great question. I do think, by all measures, other countries are becoming more innovative. But the requirement for resources is growing too, which benefits the US. I'm optimistic countries will specialize and create even more innovation!
I agree. I think they will.