Ed the freshman (5 MoRe DaYs) asked:


I don’t want to sound ignorant or anything. But people these days when they hear “technologically” and “advanced” in the same sentence, they think of some european nation or Japan. What about the U.S. of A? We surely could beat some of these countries in some categories. One is our military, and no one can deny it. We have the most advanced and strongest military on the face of the earth. It would take years for anyone else to just get even close to catching up. Also we do have some of the worlds most advanced medical technology. With that we also have the world’s crappiest health care system.

Then it comes to Entertainment. Who do you see making more movies packed with more than needed special effects, and action. And yes lately hollywood hasn’t been impressing me, besides the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Dark Knight, and possibly Hancock. Why do I hear about so many people in America going digital, and not buying CD’s anymore? Would you still consider us lagging behind when actually it seems like we, besides europe, are the only ones downloading music, and not buying CD’s like in the ’90s?

What about technology you know: laptops, software, phones, etc. Major pc makers like HP and Dell have some of the finest laptops in the world, and so does Acer (even though it’s not an american company). Microsoft is a software giant with thousands of computers around the world using it’s operating system Microsoft Windows. Even though I **** Vista’s vulnerabilites with security. Besides that it’s “okay”, but I still prefer XP (hopefully Windows 7 is better). So then there is the whole cellphone thing. It seems like we were lagging behind Europe and Japan for MANY years. But! In recent years we’ve been catching up at a fast pace. I hear rumors about Sprint introducing a 4G network. So face it phones from Europe and Japan aren’t so advanced as everyone thought. Who invented the world’s first touch screen phone? Apple, and who has made the next best competitor to the iPhone? RIM, and I know it’s a canadian company, but this applies for them too.

Now I know we do have a technological edge over many nations in some fields. But in others it seems like we’re still in the 20th century. So basically every country has it’s strength and weaknesses, but the U.S. shouldn’t be underestimated when it comes to how advanced we are? Some of you might think i’m just trying to prove the U.S. is the most advanced nation on earth. When really there is no MOST advanced nation on Earth. I could name many ways on how european countries, primarily U.K., France, and Germany, make life in the U.S. look the same as in the ’90s. Or how South Korea with it’s high-tech infrastucture totally dominates that of America’s. Even Japan with it’s microelectronics.

Here’s something from the CIA World Factbook about U.S. firms:
US firms are at or near the forefront in technological advances, especially in computers and in medical, aerospace, and military equipment; their advantage has narrowed since the end of World War II.

Here’s the link: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html

Sorry if I seemed a little paranoid, ignorant, arrogant, etc. I’m just getting tired of people, mostly teens at my school I know, saying we’re like some third world country cause we’re so FAR BEHIND THE REST OF THE INDUSTRIALIZED WORLD.

Thanks for reading my very long question.

P.S: There’s more that I can add like information technology giants Google and Yahoo, digital mp3 players: iPod and the awesome iPod killer the Zune, etc.

If you wonder, yes, i’m a very patriotic person. Who wouldn’t be!? But, maybe I need to tone down on my patriotism just a tad bit.
I know that this question is in Yahoo Answers. I also know this isn’t the best category to put it in. I just wanted to put it in YA.

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