Lack of drive for the human race?
Humanity has shown that time n time again. Americans apparently are no different. Americans have the good fortune of having well versed present day Historians do the Prophetic deed of forewarning them at least which will help delay the downfall.
Come to think of it even the roman model applies. A public opinion easily turned by stunts. (wars, entertainment, excesses).
America by no means IS declining right now. It's still to reach the peak. I know Americans who DO work very hard, which is like almost all of the middle class. Every other person has a second job, commutes a whole lot to get to their work, isn't shy of earning the overtime, college graduates are increasing, etc.
I think sooner or later America will give up on technology and will focus on owning technology than on researching it. This will be America's first step towards decline. Since its hiring Engineers and doctors from other countries it'll probably find it more suitable in time for them to do all its R&D and they'd be the business managers and CEOs who get to boss the scientists and egineers around.
America's reduced making things. Raw materials are there but thats not what drives the economy. It's more or less now a service based economy (or will be).
What then?
In the book, "The Experience Economy: Work Is Theatre & Every Business a Stage", into a performance. Something that'll capture the customer. Almost like selling a memory along with selling the product.
Quote:
Sometime during the last 30 years, the service economy emerged as the dominant engine of economic activity. At first, critics who were uncomfortable with the intangible nature of services bemoaned the decline of the goods-based economy, which, thanks to many factors, had increasingly become commoditized. Successful companies, such as Nordstrom, Starbucks, Saturn, and IBM, discovered that the best way to differentiate one product from another--clothes, food, cars, computers--was to add service.
But, according to Joseph Pine and James Gilmore, the bar of economic offerings is being raised again. In The Experience Economy, the authors argue that the service economy is about to be superseded with something that critics will find even more ephemeral (and controversial) than services ever were: experiences. In part because of technology and the increasing expectations of consumers, services today are starting to look like commodities. The authors write that "Those businesses that relegate themselves to the diminishing world of goods and services will be rendered irrelevant. To avoid this fate, you must learn to stage a rich, compelling experience."
|
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/087...lance&n=283155
And that will require technology.