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Why dont 'you' address your incorrect assertions about the list you provided, which has been counterpointed twice in this thread? Not willing to defend your own statements?
Oh noes, you didn't get a response for 10 whole hours! Sorry I wasn't at your beck and call all night long. If you want that, you'll need to find yourself a hooker. Now then:
You need to remove telephone from your list. The government had nothing to do with it's creation, nor with the telephone system itself (lines, switchers, etc...) That was all BELL
The Evolution of the Telephone System
I'll give you that one. I was under the impression that most of the phone lines were mostly publicly owned, but apparently not. Nevertheless, government still plays an important role in the industry. The logistics of it made it such that the government needed to regulate it so that carriers are interconnected with one another. Otherwise there would be no incentive for carriers to want to link their networks and invite competition onto their turf.
Whovian said:Airports needs to come off too. The first commercial airports were privately built, owned and operated.
This is irrelevant. I'm not talking about a couple of cleared fields used for rickety airplanes, I'm talking about the overall infrastructure. Airplanes could not have become as successful as they did without government investment in airports. Even today this would be implausible. Even the best airlines are just barely turning a profit (while most of them seem to perennially hover near bankruptcy). They would be totally incapable of profitably running airports. Not to mention all of the practical problems that would present, with airlines refusing each other access to their airports and whatnot.
Whovian said:The electric 'grid' was private enterprise too...
History of electric power transmission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Again, I'm not necessarily talking about the absolute first movers. I'm referring more to the popularization of the technology. Without the government playing a regulatory role in the industry, it could not have flourished. The electric industry lends itself to natural monopolies, and so the government is necessary to step in and prevent corporate abuses. Furthermore, the government is necessary to coordinate the design of the power grid so that the entire country doesn't get hit by a blackout (which still happens more often than it should). Private industry does not have the incentive to do this; let some other sucker do it.
Whovian said:Certainly, the government helped in some areas, some more than others,
Most certainly. At least 8 of the 9 on my list, and really 8.5 because the government did play SOME role in telephony, albeit not as large as in all the other inventions I cited as the most important of the modern world.
Whovian said:but to say 'EVERY' is simply incorrect. To defend the error out of partisanship, is immature.
Except I haven't "defended the error" at all, because as I've repeatedly mentioned, I really don't give a damn because I'm not a partisan hack. I'm more interested in discussing the government's role in technology than I am in parsing Joe Biden's choice of words. Whether he misspoke or exaggerated or whatever is petty and stupid, and I really don't care. :roll:
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