[mrshoe]

It's pretty easy to disprove statements like "America Lacks Meaningful Innovation" by counterexample. The iPhone. kiva.org. Tesla. SpaceX.

Something along the lines of "Much of America's so-called innovation is meaningless" might be more accurate. But any environment that is sufficiently conducive to innovation will produce a lot of meaningless innovation along with the meaningful stuff. Innovation consists of a huge number of failed experiments and a few successful ones.

[VladRussian]

to be able to do things like SpaceX one need to have starting capital. While i'm also disgusted by it (mainly i guess because i haven't been able to utilize it :), this meaningless innovation is the fastest track to make such starting capital. What i'm surprized about is why so few SpaceX around. A lot of people have made the enough money to start work on cancer cure and the likes. May be at this level of money, one just don't care anymore. Well, the more is my respect to Musk.

[chailatte]

So you're saying that if people just keep making photo sharing apps (flickr, facebook, color, instagram)....eventually those people will invent space travel or nuclear fission?

[dxbydt]

Heh. That was quite funny, the way you put it.

Seriously though, the chap who figures out controlled nuclear fusion will quite likely work out of a physics lab in a University both of which are funded by the ad dollars I you & the rest of humanity spend on facebook.

[thorwed123]

iphone == meaningful??? Lol iphone is just maarketing

[KleinmanB]

These articles constantly surface and they are beyond stupid. Facebook is VERY meaningful, 99 Designs (Helping small companies exist) is very meaningful. Marginalizing innovation because they arent curing cancer is stupid and misses the value.

[thorwed123]

Facebook, well I agree is meaningful.

But n th Facebook app/game, photosharing, UX/Design nonsensical blogging platform is surely isnt innovation.

The issue is that while Wealth might be a non zero sum game, talent is a zero sum game. More people making crap apps mean lesser people working on meaningful innovation in Healthcare, Energy and Computing.

And this sad trend is started by YC/TC and the likes. Actually all traditional VC firms such as KPCB do fund real innovative companies, e.g. BloomBox

[forensic]

So put your money where you mouth is and pay me to work on robotics and space travel.

Offer any 25 year old this choice:

a) You can be paid $100k/year and work on space travel.

b) You can go found a photosharing startup and I'll fund it.

The far majority will choose (a).

But guess what? No one is funding space travel, and when they do fund space travel, the 25-year-olds they hire are generally just sexy female secretaries who fetch them coffee.

Offer a 25 year old a challenging job in the space travel field and he will take it. The jobs aren't there. No one with money gives a fuck about space travel aside from Richard Branson who won't hire me because I don't have 30 years of experience being a rocket scientist.

Why is it so hard to become an apprentice to a rocket scientist? Why are there so few jobs in this field, and so many in sharing photos and affiliate marketing?