Big societal responses to big challenges are sui generis. You can and should learn from similar big events in history but it’s dangerous to use them as a lens. Obama’s 2010 “Sputnik moment” was an example of such a misstep in response to GFC.https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2010/12/06/president-obama-north-carolina-our-generation-s-sputnik-moment-now …
-
Show this thread
-
He *said* the right things, including innovating/building but framing it as a new “Sputnik moment” was a mistake. A bureaucrat type mistake. You don’t inspire by pointing to the past.pic.twitter.com/eiNqKUCbF2
1 reply 0 retweets 5 likesShow this thread -
I saw a bit of the backend of this btw. I went to the 2010 NAE (National Academy of Engineering) FoE (Future of Engineering) symposium representing Xerox, hey look I’m even in their website
. I recall they talked Sputnik moment in framing the event https://www.naefrontiers.org/22542/Venkatesh-Rao …1 reply 0 retweets 0 likesShow this thread -
It was well-intentioned and the talks were interesting enough, but if it was meant to actually kick off the search for a new Sputnik Moment, it was frankly a joke. The wrong people were running it, with the wrong frame and the wrong invitees.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likesShow this thread -
It was run like a routine DARPA or NSF program review type thing, just a bit fancier with better food. It was not even wrong as a Sputnik-moment hunt.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likesShow this thread -
When I read about actual Sputnik moment type episodes in history, like for example Safi Bahcall’s Loonshots which includes an account of Vannevar Bush setting up the OSD/precursor to DARPA in WW2, it’s night and day.
1 reply 0 retweets 1 likeShow this thread -
A big part of the difference is indexing on current challenge and grilling it’s essence — the genius of the moment — rather than reaching for a similar sized past event to frame the present.
1 reply 0 retweets 4 likesShow this thread -
Another part is picking the right people to be in the room. A track record of ambition and accomplishment is necessary but not sufficient. They have to be more interested in the logic of the present than the inertia of their past accomplishments.
1 reply 1 retweet 7 likesShow this thread -
If you’ve ever been to a Big STEM meeting full of academics and program administrators and a sprinkling of industry types you’ll notice something. They’re all stuck in their own successful pasts and looking for ways to extend it into the future.
1 reply 3 retweets 14 likesShow this thread
They’re usually in the room to try and get a slice of the new pie to extend their old program. Usually one set in motion on some vector a decade ago. They are literally not paying attention to the present at all. Depressing af. Not had people, just lost in their own worlds.
-
-
I’m cueing up a cold take. If you aren’t aware of the deep and chequered history of “building” in America, you’ll probably miss the point of
@pmarca essay. I’ll probably unpack it from my perspective in this week’s@breaking_smart on Friday. Stay tuned.https://a16z.com/2020/04/18/its-time-to-build/ …2 replies 1 retweet 14 likesShow this thread -
(wanted to wait out the predictable derpfest of the first techlashy news cycle so we can discuss the interesting bits after the hot take crowd moves on)
0 replies 0 retweets 17 likesShow this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.