Empty Space

When I created my blog, I chose a statement for the masthead: “A once-great nation being crushed under its own weight.” I have often written here that I believe that my generation has lived in the best times man has had, and ever will have, on this planet. I also believe that our nation, which has always been the beacon for the world in innovation and leadership, due to a combination complacency and hebetude, is poised for a headlong race to the bottom.

One symptom on which I base my pessimism about our future is that our nation’s self-vision of greatness appears to me mostly based on reminiscence. Our position in the global scheme as innovators and leaders in the advancement of humanity has been replaced by short term fixation on personal and individual material security. I fear this mindset will doom to failure our 200 year “experiment in democracy”.

I recently came across two videos; one an interview by Bill Moyers with author Isaac Asimov done in 1988. The other video; the testimony of scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson made before Senate Science Committee, March 7, 2012.

In the 1988 video interview with journalist, Bill Moyers, Asimov says:

"The decline in America's world power is, in part, brought about by our diminishing status as a world science leader.”

"Yes, we're still probably up there technologically... but what margins we do have are slimmer, narrower, and we're being overtaken."

"The most damaging statement the United States has ever been subjected to is the phrase 'Yankee Know-How". You get the feeling, somehow, that Americans, just by the fact they're Americans, are somehow more smarter and more ingenious than other people.

"… there is this feeling that somehow because we have a... decent economic system, freedom, free enterprise, which I am all in favor of, that alone will do it for us, and I admit that helps us out in some ways, [but] not if we're lazy about it. It’s not going to do it for us if we don't DO anything.”

In other words, even back in 1988 Asimov was warning that America’s decline in advancing science and technology was already noticeable. It was apparent, even back then, that we could not rely solely on our reputation in the past as innovators alone, to continue to carry us through to the future.

This year Neil deGrasse Tyson published his new book, Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier, in which he continues the point made by Asimov: that the engines that drive American innovation, and more importantly, stimulate and grow our ECONOMY, are founded in our ability to envision the future. Tyson points directly to the decline of the Space Program and diversion of funding from NASA and other scientific research.

In his testimony before the Senate committee, Tyson said:

“If all you do is coast, you slow down until others eventually catch up and pass you by. We have symptoms in society today; we’re going broke, we’re mired in debt, we don’t have as many scientists we want or need, and jobs are going overseas. I assert that these are not isolated problems; that they’re the collective consequence of the absence of ambition that consumes you when you stop having dreams."

Tyson was trying to promote the idea that increased funding for NASA has proven far greater benefits by driving a culture of innovation that is responsible for overall economic growth "…. innovations take place, patents are granted, products are developed. Everyone feels like tomorrow they want to invent and bring into the present."

Americans have often held a slightly myopic view of the basis for our Yankee Know-how. The truth is that much of our past brain power has been actually imported:

“The atomic bomb was invtned and brought to fruition by a bunch of European refugees; you go down the list of names, that's the [supposedly] 'Yankee know-how" - Asimov

“… most of the principle scientists behind the Manhattan project… were foreign nationals. All educated in European countries… Once we developed that infrastructure here… we became the target for people to become educated from all around the world. That became a boon to our country because we were getting the smartest people in the world. My great fear is that we now educate them and they go back their home countries and we would lose the contributions they would have made had they stayed.” - Tyson

China, India and other countries which used to send almost all of their best students to the US for education are now building their own universities and research facilities at home.

Meanwhile in the US, the final Space Shuttle was hangared last year; there currently is no replacement program in place and we must now depend on our former enemy, Russia, for our meager manned program needs. The percentage of US citizens who believe in Biological Evolution show we are at the bottom of the list of developed countries, way down there with Turkey. The Tennessee legislature last month passed a law requiring that Creationism be taught in schools along with Evolution. We are in the process of selecting the leader of the Free World based on whether or not these men feel women should have access to birth control or not. These are not encouraging indicators of a strong nation retaining it's status on the globe as a champion of innovation, leadership and progress.

When asked what could be done to restore our nation’s national standing, Neil deGrasse Tyson suggested that merely increasing the money allocated to NASA by one-half-cent of the national budget would provide remarkable return on investment toward rebuilding our economy. Tyson went on to add:

“… without this we just move back to the caves because that is where we’re going to end up anyway as the rest of the world passes us by."

I would urge you to invest the time to watch both videos linked below:

1. Bill Moyers interview with Isaac Asimov. Originally aired in 1988 (runtime 5:57)
2. Neil deGrasse Tyson Testifies Before Senate Science Committee, March 7, 2012 (runtime 25:49) (Listen particularly to the question and answer period following Tyson's official testimony.)

New and Improved

Even though this country is now suffering through record unemployment since the Great Depression, I suspect that way too many “Marketing” people still hold their jobs in major corporations. Their job is to keep their jobs by convincing management that their product or service, whatever it is, needs to be “improved”.

Gone are the days when a product, that works perfectly, remains intact over time. No, everything, no matter how good it is, needs to be “improved”. Marketing people do not understand the concept of, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. They can’t – they have to “new and improve” everything.

My wife’s favorite shampoo now makes her head break out. My once preferred deodorant now reeks of some perfume additive. The shower cleaner we previously used, which stank to high Heaven but still worked, no longer stinks and no longer works. The list goes on.

Of course software is among the worst offenders of continual and unnecessary upgrading. There are way too many software engineers working today. They need to all find part time jobs at Starbucks. Yes, we all have shared this problem of software upgrades. I just installed Windows XP on my machine two years ago. Since then the disastrous Windows Vista has come and gone, replaced by Windows 7. Of course, to upgrade to Windows 7 I would need to upgrade my computer also.

I have an old DOS program called Reflex. I have used it for over a decade to balance my checkbook. I have that many years of records of my checking activity. It is simple and easy and I can bring it up and use it in minutes. It is long since obsolete and the company that made it out of business. But it works… at least it did work. When I copied it to my latest computer, it is incompatible with my processor. It won’t work. On my next upgrade I am going to have to find something else.

Of course computer engineers love to upgrade applications. They put so many features in a word processing program that most people will never use. All people want is the ability to write, correct, edit and spell-check. I would guess that 98% of the features in most word processing programs nobody knows about, let alone ever uses. I paste text from MS Word into Notepad to strip out all the formatting and crap so I can re-paste it into this blog. Guess what, Mr. Software Engineer, that is MORE work for me, not less.

I am so thankful that the auto industry did not go the route of the computer industry. Had it done so we would need to buy new cars as the gasoline is upgraded, buy tires specific to our make and model of car (Toyota Camry brand tires). Our cars would shut down twice a day and we would need to reinstall the engine. We would have to go to driver training for every new car we bought because all the controls would be different.

Engineers need to think about refusing to improve things that don’t need improvement – Except for medical technology. I want that little hand held gizmo that Dr. McCoy had on Star Trek. Wave something over me to diagnose my ailments. I am supposed to call to get scheduled for a Colonoscopy soon.

Myth of the Market - Pt 3

I have two LG cell phones and a washing machine. When my GE microwave burned up after only one year, I replaced it with an LG. Zenith was a great American innovator of consumer electronics – they invented the TV remote and HDTV. Zenith sent its American workers home and went bankrupt in 1999. Zenith now belongs to LG.

Since the 1970’s, the income (adjusted for inflation) of the American middle class has not kept pace with the cost of living. Living wage manufacturing jobs have steadily declined, and in some sectors of the economy, they are gone for good. We have turned from a county that used to “make” things, to one that mostly “buys” things. Stuff that we INVENTED, like almost the entire electronic industry (TV, audio, cameras), are no longer made here. Zenith, Marantz, RCA, and dozens of household names are now gone from the domestic employment landscape. Most all of our clothing is imported, as is much of our food. Even American flags are made in China. Steel manufacturing in the US is gone – our largest export is now scrap metal.

For years CNN news anchor and author, Lou Dobbs, has been warning that corporate America has been laying-off their own customers. Dobbs even has a new book out about it. When you think about it, the corporate mindset in this country is pretty schizophrenic – My Company reduces overhead and increases profit by laying people off. But My Company wants the Other Guy’s Company employees to spend their wages buying My Company’s products. Of course, Other Guy’s Company wants the same thing. They both (all) suffer the same cognitive disconnect.

Therein lies what American corporations don’t understand: “Employees” and “Consumers” are the SAME PEOPLE. This simple, elegant and apparently, unknown fact has me screaming at the TV news every night. Laying people off makes the economy WORSE! If your boat is sinking, you don’t drill more holes in the hull to let the water out!

To their credit, a (significantly) scant few companies have figured this out. For example: locally in Corvallis, HP (Hewlett Packard) instead decided to reduce the salaries of their employees rather than lay people off entirely. Laid off people don’t keep spending – but employed people do. Spending makes the economy work. People spending money creates jobs (tax cuts do not).

Don’t believe it? Look at China. Asia has replaced our manufacturing base; Japan, then Korea, Taiwan then China all raised the living standard of their middle class by MAKING stuff for American consumers and benefiting themselves by creating a new class of Asian consumers. But then our financial crisis, and the subsequent laying off of millions of workers/consumers, has reduced our ability to buy stuff made in Asia, causing their economy to go south.

The parable of the Goose that Lays the Golden Egg is most apt when describing the corporate mindset – the story goes that the golden eggs are not being laid fast enough to satisfy the greed of the goose’s owners, so they cut it open to get at all the golden eggs -- They kill their only source of income. Laying off their employees may satisfy a company's short-term needs, but that only causes a snowballing-effect throughout the entire economy, causing others to need to do the same. Being unable or unwilling to see the bigger picture does not reflect well on the reputation of “American Innovation” that we as a nation like to pride ourselves on.