Does democracy breed excellence 5

[arunmrao]

I have been debating myself and I thought now of posing the same to you members. Ideally democratic climate should promote the path to excellence for there would be very few hurdles.But the results are not too often seen.

While in the not so democratic countries the pressures to achieve and excel is huge and you can find stars in all walks of life.

I invite your views on this aspect and thank you in advance for your contributions. It will help me in my thought process.

 

[corus]

If Clinton gave them supercomputers, as I've read, then surely with Windows 3.1 it would have crashed? Or did the pilot have a Launch button and also Ctrl,Alt,Delete to press?

 

[patdaly]

corus writes: "China's achievement in sending a man into space cannot be undervalued when you consider that they didn't have the help of scientists from other countries, such as europe."

It is being reported, at least in the USA that the Capsule was a modified Soyuez design, and that Soviet Astronauts were instrumental in their training. True or not, at least that is what is in the newspapers.

Even so, it is a great achievement for China!

 

[ornerynorsk]

It sounds like there is a common belief amongst citizens of so-called "democratic" and technologically advanced nations, that great things cannot be accomplished without the latest whizz-bangs, computers and help from "smart big brothers" !?!?! What a load of bunk! Have we all gotten so proud and inflated resting on our laurels of cushy titles and degrees and salaries, that we forget just exactly HOW most of the great achievements have been made? I'll tell you . . . it has been with hard work, little glory hunting, and a sharply intuitive and inquisitive nature that we all possess. Sad that it seems to grow rather dull when the modern crutches are so used to shore up the un-exercised brain! To close my friday morning tirade, democracy has nothing to do with it. I believe necessity, influences (reward or threat), and the unquenchable drive for us humans to achieve the un-achievable is what drives excellence! Governments can certainly help or hinder to a degree, but they're no "magic bullet" in the formula.

 

[TheTick]

There are somew who refuse to let technology dull their senses and skills. Fortunately, those people will always be among us, and they are the ones who contribute to our progress, regardless of whatever political system is attempting to shackle or yoke them.

All this machinery making modern music can still be open-hearted.

 

[corus]

The chinese going into space must have been a
upsetting to the Russians on the Mir space station as they ordered a pizza.

corus

http://www.corusresearch.com