The creation of the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and Advanced Research Project Agencies undoubtedly had a profound impact on the direction of both the US economy and the rate of scientific progress during the mid-late 20th century.

> I don't see what the problem is to let China do what it does, and focus everybody else's goal on other more important things - like reducing global C02 emissions... You could generate millions of jobs just by doing that.

What makes these mutually exclusive?

You like their High Speed Rail network? Oh that was a political decree when nobody in its population could even afford to ride a high speed train.

You like their science? That's a political decree as well.

Granted, most of the current electrical production comes from coal I think. At least until they can phase that out for natural gas, solar, and nuclear.

And 10 years ago, the western media was a laughing at China, and declaring that their high speed rail network was a commercial failure, because most Chinese people couldn’t afford the expensive train tickets.

But then, fast forward to today, and their high speed trains are running at maximum capacity. At least before the virus. They cannot run anymore trains, because of clearance requirements, so they are building newer dedicated tracks.

The median Chinese person’s income had increased in the past few years, that more of them can afford the travel and vacations, and can pay for a high speed rail ticket.

And the interesting thing, is that the newer dedicated tracks will run on the even faster maglev technology, that they indigenously developed, which can run almost as fast as an airplane.

This new maglev technology was not stolen from Japan or Germany, or gasp, the United States. Unless they have a time machine too, and stole it from future American technology. LOL.

The other interesting development is that they built a low speed maglev intracity rail to move people around. But this doesn’t get as much attention as the faster trains.

Pretty interesting developments.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_road_netw...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Aid_Highway_Act_of_195...

What, China became number one in manufacturing by accident? Was it possible that Deng Xiaoping, the supreme leader of a Communist one-party state, might have made a political decree or two? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deng_Xiaoping#Three_steps_to_e...

There were reports that suggested Mao wrote a letter to FDR or Truman, to combine American financial capital with Chinese labor. The Chinese would mass produce all the consumer goods needed by the western world.

Granted, a lot of the source of that American financial capital came from the illicit smuggling of opium into China, during the prior century.

But, the American side was too stuck on politics, that this wasn’t even a consideration. Then, the two got stalemated in the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Until Nixon finally relented, and changed directions for America.