Pedro Domingos

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 ;-)

No, one example does not invalidate his claim, which happens to be true - all of which you know very well. (Why are you here, and not in France? What happened to all your criticisms of the French academic/research system?)

He criticizes the French system only because he could not excel in it. This is just human. Although extremely declining, the French education system is still a bit better than the US.

Why could he not excel in it, if it's so great? Why did he come to America, this horrible capitalist cesspool?

The French system is not technology driven, but science driven. It is hard to imagine for an american but some people are looking for truth, not just utility.