31–40 of 54 posts
I believe the #1 reason is just the accumulation of really smart people in a place like silicon valley, at the time of infancy of internet. That makes things click like nothing else.
It also helps they went to Stanford together.
PayPal's Technical FAQ from Oct '99 (cobbled in response to a Slashdot post haha) demonstrates how ahead of the game they were: use of ECC (with tech advice from Stanford's Dan Boneh & Martin Hellman), privacy policy that prohibited sale of user data to 3rd party advertisers, generating cash via "the float" in a Merrill Lynch Money Market Fund, etc. https://web.archive.org/web/19991012084438/http://paypal.com... But…
PayPal's Technical FAQ from Oct '99 (cobbled in response to a Slashdot post haha) demonstrates how ahead of the game they were: use of ECC (with tech advice from Stanford's Dan Boneh & Martin Hellman), privacy policy that prohibited sale of user data to 3rd party advertisers, generating cash via "the float" in a Merrill Lynch Money Market Fund, etc. https://web.archive.org/web/19991012084438/http://paypal.com... But…
> Rather than driving around the country to comic book conventions, he was able to do more in one month in online auctions than the past decades he had been collecting. I personally try not to collect things, but for those who do, I wonder if this ruined the hobby because of instant gratification.
PayPal's Technical FAQ from Oct '99 (cobbled in response to a Slashdot post haha) demonstrates how ahead of the game they were: use of ECC (with tech advice from Stanford's Dan Boneh & Martin Hellman), privacy policy that prohibited sale of user data to 3rd party advertisers, generating cash via "the float" in a Merrill Lynch Money Market Fund, etc. https://web.archive.org/web/19991012084438/http://paypal.com... But…
> Rather than driving around the country to comic book conventions, he was able to do more in one month in online auctions than the past decades he had been collecting. I personally try not to collect things, but for those who do, I wonder if this ruined the hobby because of instant gratification.
For people who doesn't collect, may look like that, because they may think that going into eBay could ruin the fun, because everything is easy to get now. It isn't. You need to learn tricks and also, how to win over other collectors who may see the same item that you did.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree with your first bit, without boundaries we will get a runaway system. But what does the reference to Ming China mean? > Yes there is danger in retreating from the edge of chaos - but then we all live in Ming China. That is a better problem than going too far over the eve of chaos.
I wonder if OP isn't confusing Ming China with Qing China. The Ming dynasty had a period of exploration and then it stopped, but not because it closed itself off, just because it was becoming unstable. Qing China is the one that famously closed itself off from the world.
Like the T-Shirt says, when you are this good, why try harder.
The most advanced civilisation on the planet simply sat back in 1400, and no-one could do anything about it because the place was one fairly unified political system.
(yes, wars rebellions etc, but one China - maybe broken at times but always seeing itself as one, not competing to beat the other part but competing to unify again.
Probably it's fair to say that China always fought itself, and Europe fought each other.
(There is also something about how China unified and grew in waves related to the latest horse invaders. A sort of unified and strong when the invaders attacked, weaker when the threat retreated. Once gunpowder was invented that process was effectively over - you could mow down horse archers happily all day. So again, China had no external threats so it could turn inwards. And take all of this as a massive over-simplification but it's interesting to realise the end of the horse invaders coincided with gunpowder and the turning inwards)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder if OP isn't confusing Ming China with Qing China. The Ming dynasty had a period of exploration and then it stopped, but not because it closed itself off, just because it was becoming unstable. Qing China is the one that famously closed itself off from the world.
The Ming dynasty (late 1300 - mid 1600 ish) started well but for very unclear and contentious reasons ended ship based trade (famously burning records and ships - including ones that may or may not - probably not - reached America). They did turn inwards - but that was fairly fine - China at 1400 was at the technological peak, life was pretty good for the average peasant, frankly it was about as good as it ever got b…
While for Qing we have a ton of proof about this policy.
I'd definitely use Qing as the archetypal example of isolationism. Especially since Qing was the absolute peak of China in terms of territorial expansion, global influence, share of the world economy. Qing China in 1650 - 1700 truly had no rival.
As much as I respect the founders/alumni that came from PayPal, do any of them still use it? Forced to use PayPal since 2004 as a small business owner, it was impossible to reach their customer support. They've also left me to fight with insurers when it came to fraudulent transactions. Glad to hear they built a talented team, but as a customer...
I mostly use PayPal when there's some kind of promotion that gives me an incentive, such as extra credit card rewards, or a cash back offer. I think a lot of people find it convenient to use PayPal for ecommerce because they don't have to get their credit card out, just enter their PayPal password.
So I'm not quite convinced that PayPal was all that innovative, but they did fill a void here.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Ming dynasty (late 1300 - mid 1600 ish) started well but for very unclear and contentious reasons ended ship based trade (famously burning records and ships - including ones that may or may not - probably not - reached America). They did turn inwards - but that was fairly fine - China at 1400 was at the technological peak, life was pretty good for the average peasant, frankly it was about as good as it ever got b…
True, but as far as I know we don't have any official documents, mandates, about this turn inward. While for Qing we have a ton of proof about this policy. I'd definitely use Qing as the archetypal example of isolationism. Especially since Qing was the absolute peak of China in terms of territorial expansion, global influence, share of the world economy. Qing China in 1650 - 1700 truly had no rival.
The general point about living on the edge of chaos and it falling in either side still stands - although if you do fall, falling like the Ming / Qing is waaaay better :-)