An economist friend writes in response to my post below:
I believe it was Stravinsky who said that "Lesser artists borrow, great ones
steal."
As [Joel] Mokyr pointed out in The Lever of Riches, technologically successful
economies were happy to borrow the best ideas regardless of their source.
To the extent that the US is the least obsessed with protecting ideas in
culture, science, and industry, we will continue to produce the goods with
the highest economic returns that are also among the most difficult to copy
whether in research, movies, music, or software.
To the extent that we close up or another country succeeds in replicating
the US intellectual melting pot, we will decline. Otherwise we will
continue to lead.
I agree--plus I'm happy to take any opportunity to plug Joel Mokyr's work. His Gifts of Athena: The Historical Origins of the Knowledge Economy is also a great book. (Here's my NYT column on it.)
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