- Improve talent retention and get more tech talent into government
- Build public confidence in the benefits of new technologies
Here's the problem I see with all of these: all but the last one mean spending significantly more tax dollars on tech, and to date I have seen zero appetite for that from either mainstream politicians or the non-valley public. What we seem to have is a situation where US technology development has effectively been outsourced to private corporations, which are often quite happy to outsource it again to other countries if it means better profit margins. Meanwhile, the general public wants their tax dollars to fund things they actually feel every day, like basic infrastructure, education, and healthcare. It's not at all clear where the push to get Schmidt's proposals moving would come from.
Ironically something that solves all of the above and actually decrease costs: adopt GPLv3 for everything that receives or ever received federal funding. From technology to research data.
But I guess you will never see the guy who built an empire on top of GPLv2 with insignificant contributions back mention anything like that.
The funding is already being proposed in the same House Committee with the "Securing American Leadership in Science and Technology Act" -- which proposes doubling basic research funding over the next decade at the Energy Department, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Science and Technology, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Perhaps if Schmidt's last point about building public confidence is successful, maybe public opinion would be in favor of it.
At the same time, the irony isn't lost on me that the former CEO of Google is warning about authoritarian tech.
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[ 0.22 ms ] story [ 26.0 ms ] thread- Double R&D funding
- Invest in nationwide "foundational infrastructure"
- Implement federal multi-year flexible grants for individuals
- Increase "Government–Industry–Academia Collaborations"
- Improve talent retention and get more tech talent into government
- Build public confidence in the benefits of new technologies
Here's the problem I see with all of these: all but the last one mean spending significantly more tax dollars on tech, and to date I have seen zero appetite for that from either mainstream politicians or the non-valley public. What we seem to have is a situation where US technology development has effectively been outsourced to private corporations, which are often quite happy to outsource it again to other countries if it means better profit margins. Meanwhile, the general public wants their tax dollars to fund things they actually feel every day, like basic infrastructure, education, and healthcare. It's not at all clear where the push to get Schmidt's proposals moving would come from.
But I guess you will never see the guy who built an empire on top of GPLv2 with insignificant contributions back mention anything like that.
Perhaps if Schmidt's last point about building public confidence is successful, maybe public opinion would be in favor of it.
At the same time, the irony isn't lost on me that the former CEO of Google is warning about authoritarian tech.
Is he afraid that china implements their own version of captcha(tm). Leaving Google and the private sector out of the loop of monetizing censorship?