42% of California’s STEM Workforce Hails from Outside the U.S

Re:42% of California’s STEM Workforce Hails from Outside the... by minwcnt5 on Tuesday July 25, 2017 @02:04PM (#14850257)

Americans make up only 4.3% of the world's population. Thus, even if we invest much more in American citizens, which we surely should, don't you think it's inevitable that progress in tech will nevertheless be driven largely by foreigners going forward? We could choose not to let it happen on American soil, which some of the comments in this thread seem to be advocating, but I fail to see how such a policy would benefit Americans.

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Re:42% of California’s STEM Workforce Hails from Outside the... by michaelmrose on Tuesday July 25, 2017 @02:35PM (#14850573)

A large population doesn't predict success in tech because there is no reason to suppose the proceeds of tech research will be evenly distributed per capita.

There is first the network effect, uneven distribution of financial resources, uneven availability of educational resources, the high number of societies that don't value individuality nor deviation from tradition and the norm.

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Re:42% of California’s STEM Workforce Hails from Outside the... by thaumasiotes on Tuesday July 25, 2017 @02:31PM (#14850544)

> Americans make up only 4.3% of the world's population. Thus, even if we invest much more in American citizens, which we surely should, don't you think it's inevitable that progress in tech will nevertheless be driven largely by foreigners going forward?

Why? It's not like Americans were a much bigger share of the world population in the past.

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