Republican Ben Carson refuses to pander to ‘Silicone’ Valley

[Commentary] I’m not getting the feeling that Ben Carson — the retired Republican neurosurgeon who wants to be president — really gets Silicon Valley. Or, “Sili-CONE” Valley, as the good doctor pronounced it.

When lobbed a softball question on the importance of Silicon Valley, Dr. Carson shrugged it off with borderline indifference: “Silicon Valley is a very important part of America. A lot of good things have come out of there. I’m very supportive of it. I’m supportive of every aspect of our economy. But I don’t feel any particular need to come out and do something special,” Carson said. “I’ve known a lot of people in technology in the past. Carly Fiorina was a good friend of mine for many, many years. And she still is, even though she is running. I don’t know that it is important for me to list people in technology. What is important is that a lot of our problems can be solved by technology,” he said.

Carson suggested that because the U.S. is so far behind other developed countries in terms of students pursuing studies in STEM fields, “we’re not going to solve it when it comes to traditional educational endeavors. However, there are some tremendous computer programs that can work with individuals and bring them up to speed” Carson said. “The whole concept of virtual classrooms — where we can put the very best teachers in front of a million students instead of 30 students. When we begin to use our technology to help solve some of our problems, I think it’s going to be tremendous boon for us.”