Monday, December 18, 2006

Brain Drain

I'm going to pose a simple question without detailing possible scenarios. I'd like to hear what you all think about this.

Assuming that birth rates are dropping within industrialized countries and that the majority of innovation occurs within these countries, is it safe to say that there will be a drastic decrease in innovation in the coming future?

Let's try to predict where intellectual innovation will come from over the next 200 years or so.

2 comments:

Andrew said...

The average life span is also increasing for industrialized nations giving those lucky enough to get an education a longer time to innovate. Industrialized nations, specifically those nations that are very supportive of the sciences (as well as a healthy amount of capitalism), will still be the most innovative. I predict the countries in the EU that are getting more and more funding from the ESF and greater focus on scientific education will become the leading innovators of the world. Education is, by far, the most important factor in creating innovative ideas, I believe, not population.

Ian said...

True, education is a major factor. I believe that so is necessity. Will people in third world countries begin to develop solutions to their problesm due to necessity or will they continue to rely on industrialized countries for products to assist them in their lives?