[abalone]

Hey guess what? Silicon Valley is a product of massive amounts of government funding too.

DARPA's budget is about $3B this year alone. You can thank Uncle Sam for autonomous vehicles, Siri and the Internet, to pick just three.

So if investing taxes in people isn't "free market capitalism" then neither is the tech industry.

[orangecat]

DARPA's budget is about $3B this year alone.

Compared to $10 billion in R&D for Microsoft and Intel and $8 billion for Google: http://fortune.com/2014/11/17/top-10-research-development/

[mikeash]

Pretty much all of that money comes from selling stuff they are only able to sell because of previous government R&D.

For example, without the government leaning heavily on integrated circuits in the 60s, would Microsoft and Google even exist today?

[abalone]

...in late stage development which is MUCH less risky. Super risky early stage tech development mostly happens in the public sector at taxpayer expense through government agencies like DARPA.

[zo1]

A lot of things are easier when it happens with other people's money. A lot of those projects didn't necessarily have the expectation to make/turn a profit.

[tonomics]

R&D in Science and Technology(for military purposes) has nothing to do with a Welfare System.

DARPA is government spending towards national security, not 'investing taxes in people'.