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Is the fact that the US dominates Nobel Science awards evidence that we should be unafraid to claim leadership?

MSNBC is featuring a report on the dominance of the US in Nobel Prizes, particularly in the sciences, yet it seems unpopular to emphasize America's leadership role and more popular to portray ourselves as "just one of the crowd". Doesn't true leadership include being willing to step up and take responsibility as the best qualified to lead?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33258801/ns/technology_and_science-science/

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ed/Nobel_Prize.png
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bestpay
bestpay
Marked as Best! October 14, 2009 08:41 AM
As a citizen of the UK I have an outside perspective of this.

Clearly IMO the USA is currently the world's leading nation and I don't see why Nobel prizes should be any different.

The USA would be best advised though to be humble in this, in humility is great power.

I actually think most Americans I meet are more confident than they are arrogant, many people confuse the two. Confidence is not arrogance, but over-confidence is!

The USA doesn't need to ram down people's throats that they are a great nation in Science or anything else. You don't need to do this because it's obvious to anybody. In humility there is great power!

So the USA should be afraid to claim leadership but not be afraid to recognise they are world leaders and take on that mantle wherever it seems appropriate.
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keepontryi...
keepontryi...
October 14, 2009 09:56 AM
I'm sure some folks might misunderstand what I consider the responsibility of leadership (not you). It takes a great deal of funding, for one thing, and I believe we should commit to maintaining that funding, even in tough times. It would be a shame if we were to sit back and try to "let someone else do it", when we are uniquely qualified to take the lead, even though it may cost us a bit. In the long run, research will benefit all mankind. I've never been one for chest thumping and crowing about greatness, but I do believe that leadership requires responsibility and often times, sacrifice. We must be willing to accept the responsibility and make the sacrifices. It should engender just the opposite of arrogance, it should be a humbling and somewhat frightening or daunting condition in which to find ourselves.
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omicron
omicron
October 12, 2009 01:49 PM
Go ahead, but you'll be up against the Dutch, who like to point out where they stand on a per-capita basis.
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keepontryi...
keepontryi...
October 12, 2009 02:23 PM
But isn't that part of being the leader? We lead in part because we can afford to do so, and are populated enough to do so. The US is the overall leaders in scientific advances, and perhaps they should bear the responsibility required of leaders. More should be expected from leaders, and they must be willing to give it, not step back and say, oh, we aren't qualified to lead.
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