expedition32

A famous football player in my country once said that sports is like war: anything goes as long as you win.

Everyone always forgets ASML which suits the Netherlands just fine.

But there will come a day when that country needs to choose between China and the US.

I find it endlessly amusing that America is emulating China's state capitalism now. If you can't beat them join them!

Also a lot of countries that can't trust the US -cough Maduro cough- will choose Chinese AI solutions.

Voter ID was an issue in my country. By law everyone has to carry valid ID on them at all times.

But it is considered vital that every citizen gets the chance to vote including homeless people so they had to find a compromise. Although ofcourse the number of hobos who want to vote is largely theoretical.

In every country the poor are less likely to vote. Bending democracy in their favour is what rich people do.

You're competing with 2 billion Asians. We're never going back to the 1950s no matter now much people cry about it.

This is exactly it. Signal was promoted in my country because it was not big tech.

People hated Facebook but still wanted WhatsApp. Free, no ads, no Silicon Valley. Privacy or anonymity are irrelevant.

I think from a legal perspective modding is technically a violation of the ToS.

But ofcourse the videogame industry has always turned a blind eye to it provided you don't make money from it.

The early 20th century was a time when women no longer wanted to be ladies. They wanted to travel on their own wearing more comfortable clothes and even -gasp- have jobs.

I think what killed the joy was traffic and speed cameras.

There's a reason why people take their Ferrari out for a spin in the mountains. Highways are just too safe.

And those companies make money from government sponsored R&D. and educational pipelines.

A cheap quartz watch from Japan and later Hong Kong was more accurate than a 5k handmade Swiss mechanical watch.

Remember that the 1980s was a time when people still needed a watch for PRACTICAL purposes- they needed to tell time. Which a digital watch does so perfectly that you can use it for celestial navigation. And without any maintenance.

Chips. Tiny batteries. Mass production. The Oriental black magic of the eighties.

For most governments 5 billion dollars is chump change compared to the possible reputational damage.

In my dreams Trump is revealed as a Chinese agent and gets a parade in Beijing.

Perfect crime. The kind of people holding crypto can't exactly go to the police. They'd have to show the receipts!

There are two kinds of people who hate KYC: conspiracy cranks and criminals.

I wonder how many times SV is in contact with the CIA. And we all know the revolving door between Israeli tech companies and their security services.

China bad works for the American audience I suppose.

I still get goosebumps from the TNG intro!

I would celebrate but its likely to be North Korea so evil versus evil.

Don't forget that cars and nationalism go hand in hand. The CEO of Ford or BMW have their country's leaders on speed dial. Cars are a part of the national identity.

I live in a country who's indigenous auto industry was already killed off in the 1970s. So people here have no real loyalty and will happily buy any newcomers. Toyota, Kia, BYD- if it's good people will buy it.

The Republicans just don't want to campaign in urban centers. Barely any major city in America has a Republican mayor. It's frankly insane for a mainstream party to just basically give up.

This is what happens when wealth becomes generational.

Say what you want about the railway barons of the 19th century they all started out with nothing and knew the streets- because they came from them. This is what set America apart from Europe. The old "paperboy becomes millionaire" story.

But we're going back to aristocrats.

It's also a great way to make the government scared of Chinese AI. Get them taken out of the picture so that you don't have to compete!

I think it depends on were you live. The roads in my country are high quality and the winters are soft. You'd actually have to try really hard to wreck any car in 10 years.

Game companies generally don't care if you don't make money from your mods or fan projects. And yes technically copyright nowadays lasts until the heat death of the universe but 10 year old games are in commercial limbo.

Ofcourse AI providers very much DO want to make money with their trained models.

A program that is only used by poor people will immediately be scrapped. Never underestimate the seething hatred that the middle class has for the underclass. Besides all that social security money goes straight into the economy.

I have a 3k gaming PC and believe me I prefer using my smartphone for everything except videogames.

HN just really hates mobiles and unironically goes to amazon.com rather than using the damn app.

Roman emperors at least had the dignity to go after rich senators.

His religious bullshit just amounts to a divine right to rule.

There is a reason why in Christianity you can "repent". In the middle ages you could even pay for a get out of hell card.