Pedro Domingos

That's why I pay taxes. Health and Education.

Plus infrastructure, social programs, and every program that demonstrably has a high return on investment for society as a whole. I just wish the US didn't overspend as insanely on defense.

That's rich. The US bears the burden of defending the free world, and Europe gets to free ride on it. It's disgraceful. (And Europe also gets to free ride on the innovation that comes from the US, and even then the per capita income is much lower.)

As an Indian I say thanks to the US. Europe is fun to visit as a tourist but there is nothing comparable to the US when it comes to giving a chance to talented ppl. A Mongolian whiz kid gets noticed and picked up by MIT not by Europe. Obama would have been a door man in Germany.

Well, a former PhD student of mine from Mongolia is now a research scientist at FAIR-Paris. He wanted to stay in NYC, but the US wouldn't give him an H1-B visa. Pretty much invalidates your entire claim ;-)

I am not surprised.. the US govt is mostly a bureaucratic organization. But the meritocratic culture in the US is much better compared to other countries. This is why your student "wanted to stay in NYC". I bet you he will eventually get his visa and move here ;-)

I very much disagree with your claim about meritocracy. Western European countries are *much* more meritocratic than the US. In the US talented-but-poor kids don't stand a chance. And there is this indecently immoral thing called "legacy admissions" in top universities.

In fact, social mobility is higher in most European countries than in the US. It's even higher in the UK than in the US, despite the UK's legacy class system!