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Why Democracies Become Risk-Averse

The challenge we have in a democracy is that we can change our minds depending on which party is in power. 

You hear sometimes about China or Russia or other oligarchies or dictatorships where they can stipulate that they’re going to tackle something in the next decade. 


The challenge we have in a democracy is that we can change our minds depending on which party is in power.  But the problem is, those sorts of things don’t give us consistent funding for very high risk projects, especially when you’ve got financial pressures like we’ve had here in the United States with a severe recession.  

60 Second Reads is recorded in Big Think’s studio.

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Constrains, willingness to fail, willingness to take big risks and rapid iteration are absolutely fundamental to innovation.