An article about British moon exploration begs the question:
Britain could send its first un-manned mission to the moon by 2010 to study the lunar surface and find the best site for humans to inhabit, the BBC has reported.A report by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., a top British space company, found the cost of space travel had fallen enough to let the government consider such a probe, it said.
Why has the cost of space travel fallen enough for Britain and even China to consider moon missions? Because of one of the many invisible subsidies that America provides to the world free of charge: technological advancement. The world owes America an enormous debt for the knowledge we generate and the free dissemination we encourage, in addition to other invisible subsidies like military protection under the (fading) pax Americana.
What you say is true, but the tradition of sharing knowledge across nations is long and a credit to many, Britain notably spearheading the whole industrial revolution, and allowing it to spread. I'm British, and just want to point out that it's not like we were banging rocks together until the US showed us how to do it.
jez: Sure, and America owes a lot to its British heritage, which is part of the reason that us, Australia, the UK, and others are still strong allies. My complaint is not that no other country ever does anything good in the world, it's that no one gives America the credit I feel we deserve.
Calling it a subsidy implies that America supplies a lot more than it benefits from the exchange of technology and ideas.
jez: Well sure we do. We spend more on military technology than the rest of the world combined; ditto for space. Ditto for medical research. Etc.