New ideas can move mountains. Just look at what products such as cell phones have done over the past twenty years. However, as powerful as an idea can be... restrictions to those ideas can be just as great. Today, there is somewhere near 1 billion cell phones in existence yet not one cell phone is manufactured in the United States. A country that at one time used to be the pinnacle in manufacturing and technology.
This is why getting a good education is significant. And as a society encouraging that education understanding how it will effect the economic well being of that society.
When I say "education", I'm refering to something much different to what is being called education in most settings. Education has become Indoctrination in most of our educational institutions. If innovation is going to flourish students need to learn more independent thinking, problem solving and creativity. One will rarely see this taking place in most classrooms. Even at the University level... many industries, fearing it may spawn competition has slowly syphoned off creativity in favor of standard acceptable practices... when it comes to a profession. Even many scientists have fallen victim to following the money (mainly in the form of grants) over actually following a passion for curiousity and discovery.
Although it is now fairly clear that Global Warming and man made carbon dioxide as a connection to it has been proven to be a hoax concocted to provide a new global source for taxation and political control of industry. The added emphasis on carbon dioxide alone has led to innovation. Here is just one example... a new rocket fuel that uses carbon dioxide. It not only could fuel a rocket but it could also be an important step in furthering space exploration since the spacecraft could refuel itself instead of having to carrying enough fuel for a roundtrip.
Mega-corporations and their political influence has stifled innovation by creating barriers (via laws and regulation from the federal to local governments) to competition and raising the costs of entering the marketplace for innovators and small businesses. They also seem to be very unfriendly to innovation simply by management structure. Being that small business has traditionally been the backbone of American labor force this should be a bleak sign for the future when it comes to the number of people employed.
Yet, even with these burdens... there is more than a fair chance that the American spirit of innovation and free thinking could shine through. This might take some strange avenues. It might mean entrepreneurs and innovators moving their operations away from oppressive regulations... thus states and local governments that have less restrictive rules will attract these innovators or maybe even foreign nations. Look, for example, at medicine. Medical fields that have traditionally been lightly regulated, competition has thrived, they have had numerous innovations, costs have become more and more attractive and affordable. In areas where regulations and industries such as insurance companies have made competition and entrance into the marketplace difficult, costs have dramatically increased, innovation has occurred but at no where the pace and in many cases, people are looking to medical tourism... fleeing the country to overcome the barriers.
In addition to this, looking into the education of the medical industry. It is apparent it is also influenced by money and industry over curiosity and innovation. Over the past years it is becoming clear through many studies, that much of what puts people in hospitals is a result of stress and improper nutrition. Yet this isn't the focus of even a small percentage of the research and development of the major players in the medical industry or it's educational institutions.
It seems to be a mixed bag... however, with the internet and the ability to spread information far and wide. These problems with the current system are becoming more apparent. Innovators will notice. This is a rather healthy trend and even with all the barriers, represents positive developments for the future. The consideration that needs to be taken seriously is where that innovation takes place has allot to do with the restrictions to it. Freedom does matter!
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