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Sergey Brin On Google and China
yuhong writes "The NY Times has an interview with Sergey Brin on Google and China. A few quotes from it: 'Mr. Brin lived in the Soviet Union until he was nearly 6 years old, and he said the experience of living under a totalitarian system that censored political speech influenced his thinking — and Google's policy. "It has definitely shaped my views, and some of my company's views," he said.' Yes, business is personal, especially these days."
Ha!
It's nice to see a company take an ethical stand and stick to it.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Must have left an real impression having the Cat in the Hat censored
Seems like the Chinese government may be winning here. They clearly are great at enticing (forcing?) a sense of nationalism and pride in their people. Amazing how quickly some are turning on Google as if this is entirely their own fault and doing. Now we wait to see if the US Government tries to step in...oh what a show this is becoming.
I get the feeling this whole showdown is a Larry and Sergey thing. And that Eric Schmidt is against it, and probably the rest of the board is as well. They would rather be pusillanimous like John Chambers and just make as much money off China as possible, even if it means aid and abet totalitarianism and not standing for anything except quarterly share price (again: see John Chambers).
I applaud refusing to censor information on the internet, this is a line in the sand they have drawn, to perhaps 'do no evil' and in Slashdot spirit we should all be behind it....
Mr. Brin lived in the Soviet Union until he was nearly 6 years old, and he said the experience of living under a totalitarian system that censored political speech influenced his thinking — and Google’s policy.
So, he's saying a five year old understands the political system he's living under and its ramifications? A 5 year old?
I'd like to know what about the system made its mark on ..a five year old.
When I was five the only thing I was concerned about was getting home from school and playing.
Why did Google initially agree to censor search results in the first place if this was their philosophy? I am certain they have made money in China, they would not have gone there for altruistic purposes of giving China good search results and web based email if there was not profit in it. Sure they have the philosophy "Don't Be Evil" but they got in bed with China to do business there. Only after the Aurora Exploit did they finally say enough is enough. Taking an anti-censorship stance only AFTER the Aurora attacks makes it seem retaliatory to me. They got a bruised eye from the neighborhood bully and then after playing along fine for quite some time decided they wanted to pick up their ball and go home. I would have been more impressed if Google uncensored their search results from the beginning instead of reacting to overt actions from China to their bottom line.
There are two kinds of fool. One says, This is old, and therefore good. And one says, This is new, and therefore better.
Because @ 6 years old you have such a wealth of life experiences to draw on. At 6, your whole world is controlled, and everything feels like something you cannot do, even if you live in the US. Its called being a kid.
...was that there's always someone who ends up controlling the flow of information, so that someone might as well be you.
he lived in Soviet Union until he was nearly 6 years old only after some guy from China cracked some Gmail accounts?
Chinese government surely was fine before that accident because Google censored results without thinking twice about it!
And what's that special "experience" of a totalitarian regime a child can get from the moment he's born up to 6 years old? Please.
A corporation's goal is to increase its profits & market shares. Trying to make it pass as some kind of moral authority is at best a marketing trick for image polishing, and at worst utter hypocrisy.
Unfortunately for Google, totalitarian systems are very effective under some circumstances. For example, totalitarianism proved to be the most effective system during large-scaled wars and other dire conditions. Today's growth of Chinese GDP proves that it is more effective in current economical situation than either US or EU.
Don't forget, during the last twenty centuries, China had the largest economy on Earth for 18 centuries, and it always was totalitarian. Like it or not, it will soon regain its position as the largest economy on the planet. So, under the circumstances, it is Google who needs China to stay relevant in future, not vice-versa.
Its nice and very refreshing to see that a company can take responsibility and not just hide behind the money. Right now we are building a society where nobody is to blame for anything and everybody hides behind "business reasons" as if that was an excuse for making decisions against good faith.
I applaud Google and i really hope this will rub off against other companies. Its time we pull our global economy out of the gutter and start acting like grown up people.
HTTP/1.1 400
Was he at 6 years even know where or what the politics of the country was? If so wow.
Get up!
This is just stupid. Do you think that the moment he moves away he becomes disengaged? No. His parents and family and the media all continue to have a profound impact through out the life of an individual. Do you think that children who flee war zones with their family are fine because they left as kids? Don't think so.
I see we still have a few slashdotters who haven't yet tired of the yummy commie pablum they grew up eating. Still longing for the good old days when they were the property of the state.
Mods read the whole thread carefully before you have a kneejerk reaction.
It all started in a naive internet security incident (Gmail accounts getting hacked) and now it has gone to the extent of "free internet", "free speech". I don't see much connection between them.
In anyway, when British opium business was banned by then Chinese emperor, opium lords lobbied in British parliament to send the gun boats and take back the market. That's how HK became a British colony. Now that was 18th century!
Even though Hillary Clinton called for a probe on cyber attacks, so far US government didn't take any serious action to forcefully defend the search market in China for Google (or any other tech company) like British government did in opium war. I don't know Obama will take up this issue as Health Care is settling now.
But what I am wondering is... has the gun-boat diplomacy finally reached its end of road ?? With this Google vs. China incident, it seems like that.
I get the feeling this whole showdown is a Larry and Sergey thing. And that Eric Schmidt is against it, and probably the rest of the board is as well. They would rather be pusillanimous like John Chambers and just make as much money off China as possible, even if it means aid and abet totalitarianism and not standing for anything except quarterly share price (again: see John Chambers).
A bunch of corporate weasels teaming up with a clique of totalitarian oligarchs to make money, sounds like a marriage made in heaven. Every time one of these obscenely rich Americans gets an attack of idealism and starts talking about freedom, liberty and his love of democracy It makes me laugh. The US is no more of a democracy than China, it's a plutocracy ruled by a clique of wealthy oligarchs and corrupt politicians just like China is. The only difference is the mechanisms of control and the fact that the US maintains a veneer of democracy for the sake of tradition. FWIIW the same applies to most of Europe as well.
To China, Google might as well be an arm of the federal government. When Google does something, it's not one private company that did it, but all of America that did it. It's actually a quite frightening 19th century attitude. Mark my words, China will be the Germany of the 21st century. Recently unified, recently economically powerful, a deep sense of historical humiliation (the Opium Wars and the Eight Nations might just as well have existed yesterday and yes people really feel this way), and a government that views building the military as a method of gaining prestige in the world. HMS Dreadnought came about because of a Germany-inspired arms race at sea. China, very very much wants to humiliate America and have the world bow Obama-style and call China "teacher". You know how open source zealots seize every opportunity to trash corporations? Even the flimsiest excuse will do, and if they don't have an excuse they'll just make one up. This is what China is doing with Google. The story is that American companies are trying to pollute Chinese society with pornography and separatism, and they feel themselves above Chinese law. Of course, we just see a CEO grandstanding so he can feel good about himself and appear at awards dinners to accept "ethics" trophies. The real casualties in this mess are the other Americans who have to deal with the fallout. But screw them, eh, Sergey?
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Your post isn't interesting or insightful. It's simply crap.
Russia is a hellhole. There is no law at all beyond what you can get away with through bribes and connections. There is state-sponsored xenophobia, racism, and antisemitism... and last I remember the living conditions were about equivalent to the US in the 1940s... at the latest.
That's the way it's been for centuries, and it's unlikely to change now.
Psychologists advise keep away from individuals who hate their parents.
[[citation needed]]
I've met it in this incredible book by by Dr. Clayton E. Tucker-Ladd "Psychological Self-Help" http://www.psychologicalselfhelp.org/ , which is available on-line.
This book at one point probably saved my life.
All postcommunist countries are, when communism fell, it happened in name only, a lot of the former leaders are still in power or have puppets running the show, about paying for studies ... trust me getting to highschool in that time was hard, going to a university was something next to impossible, not every idiot was accepted like they are today, when you have the flash some money and presto.
I am from Romania, an eastern-european country. Recently, I talked with my 8-year old daughter about the communist regime here (yes, she's 8 years old, not 6... but she didn't even live one single day in communism).
I was totally impressed by the discussion. She didn't care much about the lack of food, chocolate, cartoons and whatnot. She was impressed by the fact that we weren't allowed to make jokes about our leader, and freely discuss anything. She repeatedly asked questions about the "personality cult" of the dictator, and basic freedoms... stuff like "what do you mean they opened your letters to read them? They are not allowed to do that!!!". The lack of freedom was clearly the thing that impressed her most, more than the basic deficiencies of life (that I would've expected to have more impact on her). So yes, I truly believe that that Mr. Brin knew oppression and that communism did have an impact on him. Not only from his own experience (at 6yr old you are not a clueless child anymore), but also through the tales of his parents.
As for the post above (MaxW) - that is a very fine example of very poorly understood patriotism. It's not patriotic to say nice things about your homeland, it's more patriotic to say true things. And to help change it for the better, maybe. Patriotism is not helping the leaders of the country, is helping the people. I would argue that mr. Brin already did more for the people in Russia than did Mr. MaxW (if we only consider the jobs Google created there) - I doubt that supporting the authoritarianism of Putin and the Russian oligarchy would be a patriotic thing for him to do.
(that is how I interpret the "Nigeria with snow" statement - it's about the political regime, not the inhabitants or landscape)
No. Sergey says only bad things about his motherland.
Hey Mr. Putin, nice to have you here in slashdot.
You can use Google Translate to get an OK translation from English To Russian...
oh I see
Stereotypes. I was nearly shot at Southern Washington D.C., while being there as a tourist. But nothing even remotely like this happened to me in Russia.
Does it mean that the USA is a bad dangerous place? Of course, not. It is a great interesting country.
If you happened to find yourself in a bad condition while in Russia does not mean that all people there live in a bad condition.
There are people who live well and happily in Russia and there are people who find themselves on the street begging in the USA. And vice-versa.
A corporation's goal is to increase its profits & market shares.
Is the song stuck in your head or what?
I wrote that the USSR was not a nice place and why. But the fact that his parents could get University education for free in the Moscow State University speaks for itself. And that is they could find themselves well employed in the USA and give good education to Sergey.
In the USA they would not be even allowed to enter Yale university for 5 minutes for free.
I've met such people before. During USSR time they were attacking the Terrible Capitalism, and when it became profitable, they've just changed colors, and flatter the New Masters.
Oh?
Estonia
Latvia Lithuania
Czech Republic
Slovakia
Slovenia
Croatia
Poland
Hungary
Those have all been pretty successful at transitioning from totalitarian communism to free market liberalism.
mid1800s high society england is the setting:
at the end of the movie, alice talks about extending her dad's business empire away from sumatra and borneo, and into china, via hong kong. it's all presented as wonderful creative striking and reaffirming thinking
and then she gets on a sailing frigate, with a big smile on her face... to go humiliate and exploit china, in the era of the opium wars
wtf?!
and this is a 2010s movie, not a 1930s one!
britain basically committed pharmacological warfare on china by force importing and force addicting chinese to heroin. remember, alice in wonderland is pretty much a drug trip (although more lsd than heroin really)
i just wonder how this CURRENT (#1 for weeks in the west) movie is seen in china: that the west is so blissfully unaware of how humiliating this experience was that they present it, today, in their most visible top notch cinema, as a glorious, shameless adventure
if i were chinese, my blood would boil, as if this was yesterday!
you don't have to wallow in history, but you have to present it responsibly, if you do touch upon it. and celebrating british imperialism, as a sort of self-empowerment and self-affirming assertiveness, is NOT what you want to do, especially when it glosses over real life horrible abuses, against a current world power with a historical chip on its shoulder over exactly the same historical episode
stupid
it just shows the chinese that the west NEEDS a kick in the groin over this sort of historical blindness
show some humility, tact, and historical awareness, stupid hollywood
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Big Google versus Big China. Both have totalitarian control over domains. Both claim to be "benevolent" and deny the other's claim. I wonder if Orwell could ever foresee this. There have been scifi novels/movies about EITHER corporate totalitarianism or government totalitarianism but not BOTH together.
For someone as educated, successful, and intelligent as Mr. Brin, he sounds awfully ignorant. China is not the Soviet Union; USSR did not have 1.2B people.
If you want to do business in another country you have to follow that country's laws, customs, and culture--doesn't matter if you agree with them or not. If you can't accepted that then don't do business there, and don't mask your own business failure as a political issue. It's childish, immature, and neo-imperialism to walk into other people's country and expect to be #1 just because you're from the US. I'm sure US wouldn't appreciate it if a Middle-Eastern company comes in and start criticizing how US women don't wear head scarfs at work.
Western companies will have to compete and do actual hard work to win--it's not hard work to outsource the actual thinking and doing to India and China and exepct you can just manage your way to success. Years ago when Japanese car companies came to the US what did the US companies do when they don't want to compete head-on? They whine about Japanese gov't subsidies, the unfair business environment, the manipulation of currency--instead of improve quality they used politics and now we see the consequence of that in GM and Chrysler.
Google needs to understand why Baidu is used more than Google. Is it because Baidu offers a little bit more of the things Chinese users want? Is it because Baidu is more culturally in-tune and Google is really just an extension of US culture? A search engine is just a search engine every tech company has that technology--Bing has it, Baidu has it. Sure underneathe maybe Google runs better but is it really that noticeable? Google is worshipped in its home market because of this technology aura. In other countries it's just another search enigine. How about instead of expecting people to flock to you, turn the table around: sponsor schools, give out encyclopedia to school kids, etc. Think outside of the box instead of just trading on the Google name.
Google has a challenging position. On the one hand they gather information, and is thus a threat to privacy. On the other hand, they are maybe one of the most ethical and innovative companies today. I really think this goes hand in hand, and backing down to China now could actually bring much more pain to Google later.. You cannot have free enterprise without free thinking, and freedom to do predictable business in every country.
However, I've never seen Google willfully abuse their position, unlike Microsoft and many others, spread lies and untruths. It's like getting Star Trek, where people strive for excellence, community, truth (while recognizing nobody has the whole- or last truth, only the latest truth), etc.
Google has been working FOR privacy issues, and FOR open source etc., while other corporations have mainly paid lip-service to this.
If I need some service where Google fills the requirements, my money would easily go into their hands, rather than certain MPAA, RIAA, Microsoft and companies practicing corporate fascism and unethical lobbying.
OTOH, I will remain vigilant and not put all my eggs in one basket information-wise, or make sure of encryption is in place. Both regarding backup and privacy, this makes sense and I wish people would wake up and mitigate potential danger rather than trust authorities too much to handle everything for them.
Not to say that there wasn't antisemitism in the USSR, but if you look at the Russian scientific elite, a significant fraction of them (if not the majority) are Jewish. In Russia (and the USSR before it), getting a doctoral degree is a HUGE deal. What they call PhD here is merely a "candidate" degree over there. As a matter of fact you are _NOT GUARANTEED_ to ever become a doctor, whether you're Jewish, Russian or any other nationality. It requires a decade of work (oftentimes more) and significant scientific achievement.
So it could be that his father just didn't have what it took to become a doctor, and blamed it on antisemitism. If I were to guess, I'd give that course of events a 90% probability. I also find it funny that Sergey's world view could be severely affected by something like that. Life wasn't bad in the USSR, particularly in 79. Worse in some ways than it is in Russia right now, but far from bad in absolute terms.
The power of self-righteous geeks should be limited to commenting on slashdot only.
If it means the difference between life and death, or neighbours and family "disappearing", then, yeah. 6 years old is old enough to understand there is a big problem, but maybe not to know what exactly the alternatives are..
Problem is, most chinese citizens and victims to totalitarian regimes are stuck at that age-level. Those who aren't, tend to not live very long, or get locked up, tortured and abused in all kinds of way (think "medical research").
Do we really know what's going on in China?
The attitude prevalent around here seems to be one of gushing praise towards Google, like they've completely defied the Chinese government and are standing by their principles. Really, the only difference this move affords Google is that they are no longer mandated by the Chinese government to censor their search. It now falls on the Chinese government to do whatever they want to do.
Google hasn't actually left mainland China. Their research and sales divisions have remained behind. And their map services, music portal and Gmail servers all remain in China. So I'm left with the impression that this is a publicity stunt likely driven by a number of business-related issues. Gmail hosting remaining on the mainland doesn't even address one of the issues of spying on users.
Certainly, such a public action does make a statement, but I wouldn't necessarily consider Google principled any more than any other corporation. Profits are still king and they aren't willing to give up China.
I knew one of those two (other being Larry Page) was responsible for this un-capitalistic decision. Way to go Mr. Brin! Someone must take a right step instead of the more convenient one once in a while.
I used to use AltaVista search to boycott Google because it censored stuff in China. Then I learned A. was now owned by Yahoo who did the same and worse things. I wasn't happy about not being able to find another alternative (Bing wasn't in existence yet) and I'm still not - but at least now when I use Google, I can put my mind at ease.
The potential is there to be sure -- but it's not now. Evidently they just weren't pulling in the advertising revenue for China well at all.
So, in reality, this doesn't cost them much, and it certainly makes a point worldwide. Many Chinese friends of mine really like and use Google as for some things (scientific research) they are pretty hard to beat. But I guess those types don't click through on ads much. However, that group can be effectively noisy, and done right this really makes the Chinese repression stand out not only to the world, but to their own people.
So, for now, it's good. If they can without losing face, they may capitulate, but that won't be while the issue is front and center.
Disclaimer -- I trade stocks for a living and sometimes have positions in Google, Bidu, and a bunch of other issues -- and I look these numbers up all the time in order to make my own business decisions. No positions in search just now however, I'm waiting for a better defined trend in those rather than a headline caused blip -- those can really bite one on the butt.
Why guess when you can know? Measure!
Sergey's father explains how he was "forced to abandon his dream of becoming an astronomer even before he reached college. Officially, anti-Semitism didn't exist in the U.S.S.R. but, in reality, Communist Party heads barred Jews from upper professional ranks by denying them entry to universities. Jews were excluded from the physics departments, in particular..." Michael Brin therefore changed his major to mathematics where he received nearly straight A's. However, he said, "Nobody would even consider me for graduate school because I was Jewish." quoth Wikipedia. You met such people before? Well, it doesn't sound like he was attacking the Terrible Capitalism. Sounds rather oppressed to me. They formally applied for their exit visa in September 1978, and as a result his father "was promptly fired", says Wikipedia. Well, if you tell me that he was attacking the Terrible Capitalism at the time, I'll believe you, of course. I think you're full of nonsense. Why is it that everybody fells entitled to an opinion?
I would not say that life was too good in the USSR in 79. It was sort of boring mostly.
I had in the university in the USSR a professor, a Jew, with a Jewish family name. I liked his lectures most of all. His presentation was very good and he knew his field of theoretical mathematics well.
I've met him recently. And he gave me a very good advice.
I told him that I worked at a western company and that there was a "glass ceiling" for Russian people in such companies. I told him that to get 5, one needs to know not by 10, but by 20. It was an allusion on a saying in the USSR, that a Jew to get an excellent mark, 5, in the university had to know by 10 (non-existent mark, as 5 was the highest).
And he told me: "So what. Just learn by 20. It should be fun."
I mean, probably there was an antisemitism in the USSR, but, at least, in some cases there were normal relations. I considered him to be the best professor in the university, and, by the way, I told him about it during this recent meeting.
I don't know. I'm a Russian working in a Western company here in the US, and I don't see any glass ceiling. That was sort of my point. Maybe it's you?
Certainly, my most immediate advice to you would be to take some English courses. Otherwise you will experience the "glass ceiling" because natives can barely understand you, if your written English is any indication.
... going to pull out of China?
Thank you for advice. English is important indeed. But if it were only English. Sigh... I am in Europe and have to study French and German too. French is especially hard, because there are sounds, which are difficult to reproduce.
My point was that we, Russians, found ourselves in the position of Jews in the USSR. Of course, there is a "glass ceiling". I read that even for Americans, who work in Japanese companies, there is a "glass ceiling" too. And often they quit after some time and return to work in the US companies.
But, probably those, who tried really hard, like this my Jewish professor, could go through this "glass ceiling".
On the other hand returning into, say, FSU companies is also an option. From a position of a supervisor, to a position of, say, a vice-president (6 room apartment in a luxury building for openers).
By the way, many FSU companies nowadays are run by Jews. Nobody, absolutely nobody can buy and sell better than Jews.
They will follow our laws, or they won't be doing business in our country. If they want to leave their 30% market share behind, don't let the door hit you on the way out. Baidu has the other 70% and will gladly take the 30%.
If they want to holler "human rights" and make up random junk about hackers, then they can GTFO. We will not knuckle under to a foreign corporation and give them extraterritoriality. The time for that has passed by more than 60 years. Google needs us more much more than we need them, although that's not saying much since we don't need Google at all.
Complaining that China is not "open politically" or other such garbage is simply a code word for saying that China refuses to submit to American imperialism. I support that 150%. China will never again be the lapdogs of the West. Long live the People's Republic of China!
CmdrTaco used 'to' in the "from xxx dept" text when he definitely should have used 'too'. Fucking fix it.
I've been in the industry (software) for a decade and a half now. And at no point have I seen anything even remotely resembling a "glass ceiling" for high performance employees. I'm sure it exists in some companies, but I wouldn't generalize to the countries and industries as a whole. As you climb the corp ladder it is expected that shit would get tough. There are fewer opportunities, and stronger competition. At some point you will stagnate. That point has a political component to it, of course, but you gotta learn how to play the game to play it. Russians sometimes feel they're the "smartest" and they're "discriminated against". In majority of cases that's simply not true (at least here in the US).
I heard in Europe (in Germany in particular) things are a great deal more xenophobic, though.
True. Some Russians are strange. It is a result of being isolated behind an iron curtain. The world is globalizing. Gerhard Schröder works in Russia, we work in Europe...
I wonder how much they were spending on infrastructure within China, and if it actually hurt, rather than helped, their bottom line.
Softwood lumber, wheat, beef....etc. The US wants our oil and water, but don't want other stuff. If China is such an evil empire, stop trading buying stuff from them. I have heard enough US-centric whining about China here. And from the comments I read here about China, they're no different from the viewers of Fox news.
I can't even remember what color my room looked like at 6yr old. Dude must have an elephant's memory.
FYI, until I was 7, I lived in NYC, albeit my parents were not involved with universities (as with Sergey's parents). Hence, (following TFA's logic) I can feel the pain and understand for those Nau Yawkers.
The picture is bigger than you thought
Till we moved to West Germany. And I can say: I have no fucking memory of being oppressed or something. I have good childhood memories despite being a communist kid.
So go and fuck you Mr. Brin - just another Google propaganda lie.
His parents graduated the Moscow State University. They did not pay for their studies at all, not a penny.
Well, except for the fact that the Soviet citizens earned about one seventh to one eighth as much as their American counterparts. So, yeah, except for the ~85% tax for the rest of their lives, their education was totally free.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
In my grandfather's day, only a "Russian" could get a degree in Russia. Not a Mennonite (which he was), nor a Jew nor any other group - just what they termed "Russians". He was refused his degree because he was Mennonite. Mind - his home town as well as all the other communities in the area were purged in the 1920s and we get stories like "Fiddler on the Roof" from that area.
fwiw: his hometown - all of it that I know of - ended up in Manitoba - because he hauled them out on ships. (it's a complicated story. There's a couple of books out about it). If you want to know more, investigate into the Ukraine area and how Jews and Mennonites were treated, 1880s through 1900s as well as 1920s.
I don't know when they started allowing Jewish people degrees in the USSR, but I'm going to guess it was probably post-Stalin.
on the flip side, my grandfather was also very antisemitic. My grandfather died long before I was born - and he tried to get his degree in the early 1900s, so this isn't modern information by any length.
and hashish is not marijuana
and crack is not coke
etc...
so what? what's your point?
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police. Yet in their hearts there is unspoken - unspeakable! - fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts! Words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home, all the more powerful because they are forbidden. These terrify them. A little mouse - a little tiny mouse! - of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic. ~Churchill (Quote found using Google)
addictiveness is a function of biochemistry, not delivery route
although it does change the dose received, you got me there
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
but none of your qualifications negate the broader overarching and obvious points about morphine and opioids
so you've accurately and sagely delineated the differences between the atlantic spotted dolphin and the spinner dolphin, but you've really said nothing useful, because what i am saying applies to dolphins, period
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
The US statistics tends to not include large parts of society: at that time segregated people, nowadays tens of million of "illegal aliens". If it were also including all people living in the country the figures would not be that impressive.
The US statistics tends to not include large parts of society: at that time segregated people, nowadays tens of million of "illegal aliens". If it were also including all people living in the country the figures would not be that impressive.
The official US population is about 300 million. For the per capita income to be diluted to Soviet levels, the "true" population would have to be about 2.4 billion. I'm pretty sure we'd notice we'd notice if the US population outnumbered China and India put together.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
It is not as simple as that. These people do participate in creation of the GDP, in creation of the income of 300 millions. But they "as if" cease to exist in calculation of the income per capita. It is not linear dependence.
In cast you didn't read that link, those things and the others in the list are just meant to be unstated assumptions that Americans take for granted - that being sort of the anthropological definition of culture. For example, if someone says they want to "watch the game", an American would assume it means baseball, basketball, or football (NFL), while in Canada it would be hockey or football (either CFL or NFL) or maybe baseball, and the U.K it would be football (soccer style) or cricket. It wasn't meant to say any of them are good or bad.
I contributed to the Canadian version.
But of course, the USA is the most rich and prosperous country in the world. No argument about this.
My point was that by getting the quality education in the Moscow State University they've got the opportunity to succeed later in the USA.
It was not a bad thing for them.
People, when they get an economical success in life, sometimes give a present to the university. For example, building a university library, etc.
No one expecting it from Brins, no one expecting even "Thank you." But, maybe, at least, not constant badmouthing. Critic is OK too, but at least with some understanding, with an objectivity.
They conquered the world with this education, earned all money in the world. And "Russia is Nigeria with snow"?
If someone, say, gives me a food when I am hungry. I say: "Thank you". I do not say: "So what? In the USA the food is given free of charge by the Salvation Army." And it is normal. Sort of human.
Google finds YOU!!!
There are about 180 different peoples living in Russia (and USSR before it). Anyone can (and could back then) get a degree. AFAIK there was an "reverse affirmative action" admission limit to higher education institutions for jews specifically at one point (similar limit existed in the US until the 50's, BTW), but his father obviously did not suffer from it.
I don't know about early 1900's obviously. If anything, the conditions for jews had only improved when communists took over - they were severely and unceremoniously oppressed in Tsarist Russia.