Competition is for Losers
Peter Thiel interview video.
One of Peter Thiel’s interview questions is tell me something you know to be true that no one else knows is true? How would you answer that question?
My answer is that the source of real per capita growth is inventions and patents, property rights in inventions, are the key to stimulating people to invent, resulting in the Industrial Revolution and our present standard of living.
One of Peter Thiel’s interview questions is tell me something you know to be true that no one else knows is true? How would you answer that question?
My answer is that the source of real per capita growth is inventions and patents, property rights in inventions, are the key to stimulating people to invent, resulting in the Industrial Revolution and our present standard of living.
I totally concur with your bottom line. What's interesting is that according to what you said, in order for that to happen, the gubbermeant would have to get out of the way.
What I know to be true, I'm learning a lot of people also know to be true. People like Ayn Rand and all of you here in this forum. Just because I am surrounded by people who don't understand my less than liberal viewpoints :) doesn't mean that I am alone or the minority! I am so grateful for have found this community. Thanks everyone for sharing! I am truly learning a lot!!!
After all, driving a 35 MPH wheezy, breezy underpowered and undergeared farm buggy when everyone else was motoring along at an easy 50 with good springs, 3 speeds forward, relative comfort (and even automatic windshield wipers and - gasp - heaters!!), and - goodness forbid - a car that didn't boil over or run out of gas going up a hill was getting to be a little old.
Even then - a number of T's were still family transportation into WW2, and to this day there are still over 40,000 of the things up and running (including mine that turns 99 in 6 weeks) - a testament to how well built and overengineered they were.
I put something like 170k miles on a '67 Pontiac Tempest before it rusted out under me. Replaced it with it's apparent successor, a '77 Pontiac Ventura. Real machine screws had been replaced by stamped flat metal 'speed nuts' and it took me about three years to cure a designed-in engine-stall 'feature.'
Many product improvements come from customer desires for better reliability, performance and ease of use.
I occasionally point out how 'simple' the early cars were, but people weren't too quick to reject the advent of the electric starter, too... :)
Answer to the question: A little bit of the right kind of knowledge can defeat any progressive argument. A little bit of Aristotle goes a long way.
"Definitely worth watching and learning from...
I once bragged to a friend that my new (VERY early version of a) laptop computer "could run tens of thousands of DOS applications already!" [way pre-windows...] and his response was simply, "So many? That means that none of them are any good."
That's why there are a lot of downloadable apps today and nowhere near as many automobile manufacturers.
Think about it."
was enough. -- j
Otherwise, I am better off keeping it a trade secret.
So the judiciary must protect intellectual property.
And the executive must NOT protect "market share" or anything else certain toadying "businessman" demand from the government.
your answer???
some of us may, in here!!! -- j
I wouldn't.
Unless secured by all possible global patent rights, etc.
In the course of years, I have run into copyright disputes and registered name disputes even though scrupulously executed by (European) attorneys... usually leading to some form of settlement agreement just to be able to stop the attorney fees and get back to work.
Even if you follow all requirements and lock down every possible avenue (which has its costs) you still need to have the financial ability to defend your invention at any moment it has been infringed upon. If you opt to manufacture in China- forget it, you just lost all sanctity!
We cannot ignore that inventions, like so many things, are global affairs. You have to be able to navigate a global system to be able to really protect your intellectual property/invention.
The only note I would make is that great execution teams provide similar value to IP, and cannot be ignored. What Deming did to manufacturing is in the same order of magnitude of wealth creation as technology, and should not be lost in the simplicity of this argument. If you don't believe this, drive an Italian or French car for a while.