The Drill Down 477: Google I/O 2017

This week, a global ransomware hack will make you WannaCry, Google’s I/O Conference, babies made from skin cells, Apple builds a new spaceship, and a pizza box, plus much, much more.

You can find the episode here.

85% of Manufacturing Job Losses are due to Robots.

 Alison Burke wiring for. Too king's Now with Regard to the Manufacturing Question:

"...the predominant force behind losses in manufacturing employment has been technological change (85 percent), not international trade. As she explains, automation has transformed the American factory, and the advent of new technologies (like robotics and 3D printing) has rendered many low-skilled jobs unnecessary."

The fault is not with other nations, it is with ourselves.

Those without skills will lack the opportunity to earn the purchasing power necessary to fare well.

The solution? We must simply change course and do what we have not done in the past-- ensure that all have access to opportunity.

Make it easy to access, or affordable or vocational or whatever label one has to put on it but tie those qualities to a universal message that we all must have it and in doing so compete with one another for meaningful, gainful employment.

Clinton did poorly at making such a fact based appeal. Indeed the winds of discourse flew from these truths. On this issue, Trump's misrepresentation of America's trade deficits and outsourcing as the reason for US manufacturing's decline won the day.

The truth of this matter, however, is something we have yet to actually contend with. 

What makes Silicon Valley Different?

"Its current advantage, according to Reid Hoffman, co-founder of business network LinkedIn, lies not so much in start-ups, which many parts of the world do well, as in its ability to support “scale-ups” or fast-growth companies. That has been enabled, Mr Hoffman says, by its concentration of engineering talent and venture capital and by founders’ willingness to reshape their organisations and processes as they expand."