HN is a community and we want it to remain one. For that, users need some identity for others to relate to. Otherwise we may as well have no usernames and no community, and that would be a different kind of forum. https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...
You needn't use your real name, of course.
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_mobile_...
WWW had far bigger impact that iPhone, and is european innovation.
For that matter, the entire system of democratic capitalism and relatively free markets you are espousing was invented there. Fair to argue who's done the best job of "perfecting" it, but it's European ideas originally :)
I think it is very interesting to compare entrepreneurial approaches and success rates (to the degree it's meaningful) across jurisdictions, for what it's worth. But "Europe can't do this at all" is a silly line to draw.