The rise of all of us.

Am I the only person who thinks a little friendly competition never hurt anybody? If I was referencing sports, then obviously this is true. Without competition...well you basically wouldn't have sports.
Similarly in business, its fairly well-understood that a monopoly is really not good for anybody. It actually tends to be more profitable for businesses to have competition, which forces them to stay fit. And consumers see lower prices on the shelf for goods when there is competition. Through competition, we ingenuity occurs, as clever business managers come up with new ways to make a profit in an avenue that doesn't have competition yet. Soon, that market is filled with competition as well.
It's one of the main reasons the price of oil is so ridiculous...there's really no competition. America can't produce it's own oil in large enough quantity to effect the demand we pull on OPEC oil. And so we are subject to OPEC oil prices. Sweet Brent Crude, or whatever. If there was true competition, when OPEC said "we're cutting production by 1 million barrels a day" then later that afternoon another company would say "we're upping production 1.1 million barrels a day" and they'd try to achieve a larger market share.

Anyway, the point of this is that in general competition is beneficial for all parties, and for the human race. So every 6 months or so (with all due respect to Richard Florida) when I see some article titled "Brain Drain" I just roll my eyes. Here's the thing: if some brilliant kid somehow finds his way out of a third world country and gets into college and does really well, then wants to return to that country to try to improve the human condition there, I don't see the problem.

"Brain Drain" articles tend to either state or imply that the U.S. and Europe hold (held?) a tight monopoly on intelligent people, and the outflux of intelligent people to other corners of the globe implies the weakening of the U.S. and Europe.

I am not saying that isn't so.

What I am saying is that more people are getting bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and Ph.D's than ever before, and if those people leave the United States at the conclusion of their education, they don't simply vanish into thin air. They don't suddenly cease to contribute to the global intelligence and economy. They don't suddenly declare war on the United States and use their diabolical genius to build superweapons. They simply choose to utilize their education in a new, unique way that may not have been available to them 15 years ago (aka pre-internet).

I've mentioned before that some psychologists believe that the idea of nations is a driving force in much of history's violence. That nationalism breeds contempt and hate towards other nations despite the international treaty situation with those nations. That humans, without borders around which to rally, would be far less dangerous to one another.

Is complaint of a "brain drain" not just more nationalism? Is it not just more fear that our "enemies" may close the gap between us and them in terms of intellectual prowess?

Other than fear, what possible reason could a human being have for desiring other nations to not have any smart people there?


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