Re: On the Cusp of the Future

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: Bob Frankston [bob37-2 () bobf frankston com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2007 4:52 PM
To: David Farber; 'ip'
Cc: 'Hasan Diwan'
Subject: RE: [IP] On the Cusp of the Future

I’m not sure if the implication is that such funding is good or bad but I’m glad to see that such cooperation is not as 
favorable as it used to be even as, alas, we look for more government agenda-setting.

While there has been government funding in the US  much of it has been the MIC (Military Industrial Complex) that 
Eisenhower warned us about. It has had some lucky successes as with the Arpanet/Internet (very different things) but as 
I wrote in http://www.frankston.com/?name=IPGeni2 it has been a very corrupting influence in a number of ways. I use 
MIT’s Athena as an example of the government funding classic research while the PC industry grew up outside this 
control.

Even when it seems benevolent and far sighted as with Minitel it becomes problematic over time because, by its very 
nature, such funding must become conservative if there is an well-defined agenda. The worst agendas are those that are 
so implicit that don’t recognize them for what they are – government distorting reality. No surprise that I see Telecom 
as an extreme example. Homeland security is looming just as a new book extolling Joe McCarthy has been published.

I’m not arguing for total noninvolvement – after all the government is a mechanism for acting collectively but we must 
be wary about depending upon its ability to define the one true future.


-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net]
Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2007 15:50
To: ip
Subject: [IP] On the Cusp of the Future





________________________________________

From: Hasan Diwan [hasan.diwan () gmail com]

Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2007 7:56 AM

To: David Farber

Subject: On the Cusp of the Future



For IP, if you wish, permalink at

http://blog.prolificprogrammer.com/articles/2007/12/26/on-the-cusp-of-the-future

where comments are welcome.



Throughout the 1980s, Japan was heralded as a model for close

governmental cooperation with industry, legendary work ethic, and

mastery of high-technology. Then, in the early 90s, all the pointing

to Japan as a model stopped. The economic growth fell to less than 1%

(and negative in some quarters).



Replace the word Japan with the words United States and replace 1980s

with 1990s and 90s with 2000s, and the phrase is still, largely, true.



Why hasn't this been realised? Part of it has to do with legendary

geographical prowess and historical awareness. Any other ideas? From

my vantage point, the similarities are striking.

--

Cheers,

Hasan Diwan <hasan.diwan () gmail com>



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