As the one truly universal nation, the United States continually refreshes its connections with the rest of the world--through languages, family, education, business--in a way no other nation does, or will. The countries that are comparably open--Canada, Australia--aren't nearly as large; those whose economies are comparably large--Japan, unified Europe, eventually China or India--aren't nearly as open. The simplest measure of whether a culture is dominant is whether outsiders want to be part of it... Everything we know about future industries and technologies suggests that they will offer ever-greater rewards to flexibility, openness, reinvention, "crowdsourcing," and all other manifestations of individuals and groups keenly attuned to their surroundings. Everything about American society should be hospitable toward those traits--and should foster them better and more richly than other societies can. The American advantage here is broad and atmospheric, but it also depends on two specific policies that, in my view, are the absolute pillars of American strength: continued openness to immigration, and a continued concentration of universities that people around the world want to attend.
Everything we know about future industries and technologies suggests that they will offer ever-greater rewards to flexibility, openness, reinvention, "crowdsourcing," and all other manifestations of individuals and groups keenly attuned to their surroundings. Everything about American society should be hospitable toward those traits--and should foster them better and more richly than other societies can. The American advantage here is broad and atmospheric, but it also depends on two specific policies that, in my view, are the absolute pillars of American strength: continued openness to immigration, and a continued concentration of universities that people around the world want to attend.
