So on last night’s Jeopardy Teen Tournament, I was paying more than the usual attention to one of the contestant’s, as he is from my home town (although I don’t know him at all). During the interview portion, he revealed that he is particularly interested in reaching out to students in India (he’s of Indian extraction) and helping them with robotic technology, as their tech skills don’t seem to be up to snuff.
This to me seemed like a real WTF?? moment, and I don’t mean “Win The Future”. As a matter of fact, this kid seems to be working to ensure that the US loses the future. It would be kinda like* a 1950’s teenager reaching out to his Soviet counterparts to help bring their nuclear physics skills up to speed.
*No, I don’t think anyone is committing treason here. It’s an analogy.
Alex Trebek seemed a bit bumfuzzled himself; he pointed out that as far as he knew, Indian students are quite tech savvy.
Perhaps I’m a bit hypersensitive, as I work in an industry (IT) that we just flat gave away to India to squeeze a few more bucks out of the bottom line. I don’t think India needs any tech help from us, thanks.
Oh, I fully endorse his dreams. I hope his love of robotics turns into something patentable, and that he becomes a billionaire and builds a factory employing thousands of American workers.
Now, if one of his buddies in Bangalore takes his idea and builds a factory first – that would not be so good.
I hope that kid starts a robotics company employing thousands in India. Guess what, Indians are people, too. They shouldn’t have to be in poverty just to make someone who happens to share your nationality’s life a bit easier.
Perhaps he’s actually an evil mad scientist*, relying on the fact that robots inevitably turn on their fleshy human masters in a murderous rampage and then proceed to enslave the survivors.
He won’t have to worry about India taking away his future job too much after that.
*actually more of an evil mad engineer.
It’s a bullshit analogy even if you leave out the treason thing. He’s a high school kid who is talking about collaborating with students in another country. He’s not a factory owned laying off his employees and moving operations to India, and he sure as shit isn’t slipping nuclear secrets to the USSR when it’s on the brink of nuclear war against the U.S.
Why not? In case you weren’t aware, economics isn’t a zero sum game. The US is a fabulously wealthy country while India is mired in poverty. Begrudging them a factory is, IMO, morally repugnant.
