Innovation is key

    The human race feeds off of the idea of pushing society forward. Since the beginning of time, we have looked to upgrade our lives, make them easier, and more well sustained. First came the wheel since then we have progressed to cars that can reach nearly 300 miles per hour. Although these are production induced innovations these wouldn’t come without the protection of the first amendment. 

    Freedom of Expression is more clearly defined as the ability to express your ideas, beliefs, or thoughts without censorship of the government. With the ability to grow on what we already have, we learn more about ourselves and our nation. As Americans, we have this natural right that allows us to think outside the box and challenge existing ideas. A commentary piece on VTDigger brought up a very interesting point. “Why did the rise of technology happen in Silicon Valley? Why not China or Korea?”. There is a reason this happened, its not just a crazy coincidence. As an American society, we naturally look to improve our everyday lives, therefore avoiding technological downfall.

    The US has more abroad students in Universities than any other country in the world. Thanks impart to higher education and freedom of speech that allows for more precise research. Forbes reports that in 2018 alone 272,470 students came from China. Recently President Trump put a ban on Chinese graduate students applying for a visa. What impact will that have on our society? The Wall Street Journal even went as far as to say that Chinese students help America innovate. While this is true will it have a downfall in our countries technological improvements? The only reasonable answer is yes. “Student Visa immigrants earn higher wages, and receive more patents and commercialize more innovations” (Kauffman Foundation). Take Russian immigrant Sergey Brin for example. He was the lead software engineer for this small little search engine in the late ’90s. Now that small search engine -- Google-- is worth nearly a TRILLION dollars. Without his help in the world of online innovation, we wouldn’t be where we are right now. Would someone have come up with something else? Yes. Would it have been just as successful as Google? There’s really no way to tell, but one thing is true, he got the ball rolling, he created this challenge that led to companies like Bing and Yahoo! to try and outdo the powerhouse that is Google. Thus pushing Google to do more and reach for the sky. 

    Innovation is what keeps us alive, and without the protection of the first amendment, we wouldn’t see society flourishing as it is today.


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