I’d like to take a minute to turn from our usual focus on foreign policy and diplomacy to take a look at science and technology. The U.S. has a proud history of being a world leader in technological innovation. This website, for example, provides a list of U.S. Nobel Prize winners, as of 2008, and it’s impressive, to be sure. Depending on your interests, I’m sure you will recognize the names of the esteemed winners. What can the U.S. do to make sure that this history of innovation continues? This commentary from MSNBC suggests several answers to that question and notes President Obama’s call for a “new spirit of innovation” as an important step in the right direction. A future haunted by global warming is certainly one motivator, as is securing the promise of nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, and robotics. Emerging technologies promise to create entirely new industries that will become engines of economic progress and prosperity if we invest now in determined efforts to maintain a culture that promotes and rewards innovation.
