Quote van de dag: Buitenlandse innovatie is goed

Energy innovation is not a nationalistic game. If tomorrow some other country invented cheap energy with no CO2 output, would that be a bad day or a good day? For anybody who’s reasonable, that would be, like, the best day ever. If all you care about is America’s relative position, every day since the end of World War II has really been bad for you. So when somebody says to me, “Oh, the Chinese are helping to lower the cost of it, or creating something that emits less CO2,” I say, “Great.” The Chinese are also working on new drugs. When your children get sick, they might be able to take those drugs.

Bill Gates poneert in een interview met Rolling Stone een stelling die iedereen die economische ontwikkeling ziet als een oorlog tussen verschillende staten aan het denken zou moeten zetten.

Ezra Klein voegt eraan toe:

People often worry about what will happen if China becomes as innovative and technologically capable as we are. I think it makes a lot more sense to worry about what happens if they don’t.

Bent u bang voor China?