[LionessLover]

In this context, a great lecture about ancient Silicon Valley history: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo

Lecture brought to you by The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA (http://www.computerhistory.org/)

TL;DR: The foundation for the SV was laid by the US government in WWII. Only on that basis did private enterprise build the industry.

From today's point of view, WWII saw today unimaginable spending - huge waste! - by the government. On research, research, more research and infrastructure, and more infrastructure, and even more research. Imagine even half the amount they spent back then announced today (in today's dollars). The cries about government overreach and waste and "oh my god the debt!" would shake the North American continent down to 5 km below the surface.

[hackuser]

Government also developed or funded: The Internet, fracking, most academic research ... and the educations of everybody reading this, to at least some extent.

[eli_gottlieb]

What's amazing is that we actually have to remind people of this. Every large, powerful, cohesive society in history has had a centralized state of some sort. Societies that don't tend to get conquered by armies ranging from bandits to systematic invaders, or to get balkanized into wasteful little feudal domains.