How Semiconductors Were Made in America

    Hurdle 1: Shoddy Logic       <- Freedom of Speech
    Hurdle 2: Tyranny of Numbers <- Irreverence
    Hurdle 3: Miniaturization    <- Pragmatic not Dogmatic
    Hurdle 4: Repeatability      <- Meritocracy
    Hurdle 5: Scale              <- Outsiders Welcome

Watched some of the video. The connection between "freedom of speech" and "shoddy logic" is that Shockley invented the transistor despite being a raging racist. This was the best supported argument of the bunch.

It's an interesting point about that time in history, but I still don't buy the argument. Does it hold up when looking at which countries lead the world in semiconductor manufacturing today?

The bit about how semiconductors could only have been made in America because only America had the specific combination of freedom of speech, irreverence, pragmatism over dogmatism, meritocracy and welcoming outsiders is definitely an interesting idea, although how true that is?

It's genuinely so ridiculous to suggest that freedom and meritocracy (among other things) were why America was able to do this first. This stuff was before the civil rights act.

There are endless stories about Americans being sent to Europe needing to be told that they can't treat black people the way they do at home.

All of the chest thumping about being the land of the free rings hollow when considering how recent some of this history is. The current and previous president were alive when the civil rights act was passed!

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How semiconductors were made in the USA

All the key people in CS, EE, and Physics needed to invent transistors where in America at the time.

Why? Mostly because America has true individual freedom and low taxes, unlike Europe.

This is really inaccurate. The real reason is similar to why America was at the forefront of the other high tech sectors like aviation etc too: massive defense spending, a lot of business people (like Fairchild) willing to invest in a sector where they see the potential procurement from Pentagon, while starting to serve the civilian sector.