Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

science.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

271–280 of 314 posts

Re: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

#271

Post by svara »

valenterry wrote: post #270
svara wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You make it sound much harder than it is. I've done that and am doing that. It's totally possible that it's easier in other countries, I don't know that. But if you're serious about building a company, this is the least of your challenges. Hire a tax advisor and accountant through a payroll and tax service provider and you'll spend 1-2 days a year dealing with this stuff.

> Hire a tax advisor and accountant through a payroll And this is exactly how you kill off lots of innovation by adding unnecessary hurdles. Tax advisors are Hella expensive and hard to contract even. I'm speaking from experience.

No offense but if that's what kills your entrepreneurial spirit it doesn't sound like it would've carried you very far. It's really not that hard if you want it. You'll need it sooner or later anyway if you want to be more than a one man show.

Like I said, you'll be facing a lot of substantially greater challenges.

Re: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

#272

Post by staunton »

thinkindie wrote: post #57
submeta wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Random German company: You open your intranet, manually search through hundreds of (pdf!) application-forms (because search is not implemented), downlod the right form, print it(!), fill the form, sign it, scan the paper, send it to the ticket system. That’s what they call „Digitalisierung“, because previously they had to send the printed paper-form to the helpdesk team.

luckily I haven't been working with such companies, I have had enough of my dose of Digitalisierung by interacting with public offices. But at least I can communicate with the Finanzamt via email, after signing a document where I made clear I understand that emails are not a safe communication tool (while random non-certified letters are, apparently).

> while random non-certified letters are, apparently

They kind of are. Somebody would have to go and steal the physical letter and then read/scan it to make any use of it. That excludes pretty much all attacks on the process --- at least such where criminals might hope to make a larger profit than most other criminal enterprises available to them.

Whether that makes the letters a good idea is a different discussion...

Re: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

#273

Post by bcye »

calmoo wrote: post #122
bcye wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How recently? Nowadays there are a bunch of "app eSIM" companies competing in Germany that offer to get you an eSIM by just installing an app, KYC and credit card in 5 min

A few days ago - I had some strict requirements of extremely low monthly cost (I only need it for sending and receiving SMS and for signing up for certain german services that require a German number) - so I want with O2 Prepaid. There are a lot of instant sign up eSIMs that are data only, which is not what I'm looking for. I would be surprised if you're talking about an eSIM service that give you a phone number.

Absolutely, the data-only ones don't count :D Fraenk [1] is one example, there are a few competitors all in about the same price range

[1]: https://fraenk.de/esim

Re: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

#274

Post by adrian_b »

valenterry wrote: post #164
anigbrowl wrote: post #34

Black_13 appears to be shadowbanned so I'm reproducing their comment here: black_13 11 minutes ago [dead] | parent | context | unvouch | favorite | on: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for res... The cynicism in these comments is telling, but misses crucial realities about Germany's capabilities and social achievements. Yes, Germany creates bureaucracies. Yes, Dorothee Bär's digital infrastructure record is…

> Germans enjoy comprehensive public transportation infrastructure, universal healthcare without administrative bloat Tell me you have never lived in Germany without telling me...

I have lived in Germany twice, the first time around 2005-2006 and the second time around 2016-2018, mostly in Bavaria and other southern parts.

The first time the public transportation infrastructure was very decent, certainly better than in most countries, even if not comparable with something like Japan.

The second time, 10 years later, there was a visible degradation in their railways, because the trains were almost never on time. I have lost a flight and a very large number of train changes because of train delays. However when going by car on their freeways I have not noticed anything worse and with a good car one could travel easily with a speed much above 200 km/h for a long time without problems, though there were also some congested segments.

I have never been ill, so I cannot comment about the state of healthcare.

I have never been in USA, but all the descriptions of the transportation system that I have seen, even of the infrastructure for cars, appear inferior to even the last version from Germany, which was degraded in comparison with the older one.

Re: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

#275

Post by bcye »

slt2021 wrote: post #141
bcye wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the national idea of the other listed countries in comparison? Also: a "national idea" isn't the only reason people do cutting edge research.

you need an idea in order to mobilize the energy of the population. German passionary patriotism has been artificially subverted and shut down, and the nation instead has been flooded with non-Germanic elements, thus completely destroying the very definition of German. Ask any German on the street, and nobody will be able to answer: What defines being a German, who are the Germans, what is their history, and what awa…

> German passionary patriotism has been artificially subverted and shut down, and the nation instead has been flooded with non-Germanic elements, thus completely destroying the very definition of German.

> Ask any German on the street, and nobody will be able to answer: What defines being a German, who are the Germans, what is their history, and what awaits German people in the future.

I don't think so, you will meet plently people that will be able to tell you about Germany's history, or at least recent history. And what defines being German, you might get different answers, but is that so bad, and where wouldn't you? Hasn't multiculturalism just become a big part of Germany's identity, and not destroyed it as you claim? Döner just as the simplest example.

Re: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

#276

Post by pmags »

amadeuspagel wrote: post #200
pmags wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talk about a bad faith response. No counter data presented. Just deny and distract. Here's collaborating trends for the same calendar year: https://www.feedingamerica.org/research/charitable-food-assi... Feeding America estimates more than 50 million people received charitable food assistance sometime in 2023 I'm guessing you'll respond that charities that feed people have a vested interest and are not to be trusted.…

Receiving charitable food assistance doesn't mean that you're starving, or even that you would be starving without that assistance. What sort of data would you accept to prove that americans are not starving?

Above I've already pointed to TWO types of data that bear on food insecurity in the US, and provided citations:

1. USDA data on food insecurity

2. Food bank usage data

If you wanted to understand the extremes of food insecurity, than data on malnutrition related deaths in the US would also apply:

• Mostafa, N., Sayed, A., Rashad, O. et al. Malnutrition-related mortality trends in older adults in the United States from 1999 to 2020. BMC Med 21, 421 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-023-03143-8

From the paper above -- "Despite some initial decrements in malnutrition mortality among older adults in the U.S., the uptrend from 2013 to 2020 nullified all established progress. The end result is that malnutrition mortality rates represent a historical high...Effective interventions are strongly needed. Such interventions should aim to ensure food security and early detection and remedy of malnutrition among older adults..."

If you wanted to explore malnutrition related deaths for other groups / time periods you could query the CDC Wonder data base using ICD-10 Codes E40 – E46 (as was done in the paper cited above; see also https://www.icd10data.com/ICD10CM/Codes/E00-E89/E40-E46).

• https://wonder.cdc.gov/ -- Search CDC Wonder for underlying cause of death

I did the query for 2023 and found were >22,000 malnutrition related deaths recorded by the CDC.

If this number went down significantly I would see that as evidence of a decrease in malnutrition in the US. If this number was near zero I would accept your assertion that no/few Americans are starving.

Given the preponderance of data, the notion that one could argue with a straight face that food insecurity in the US is of no concern seems shocking to me.

Re: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

#277

Post by staunton »

slt2021 wrote: post #141
bcye wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the national idea of the other listed countries in comparison? Also: a "national idea" isn't the only reason people do cutting edge research.

you need an idea in order to mobilize the energy of the population. German passionary patriotism has been artificially subverted and shut down, and the nation instead has been flooded with non-Germanic elements, thus completely destroying the very definition of German. Ask any German on the street, and nobody will be able to answer: What defines being a German, who are the Germans, what is their history, and what awa…

> the great leap forward

... doesn't sound very desirable, with how things by that name have gone historically.

Re: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

#278

Post by nicbou »

interloxia wrote: post #269
nicbou wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience was a bit different. For example, the immigration office accepts almost all applications in the end (over 95% according to their stats). They make all sorts of exceptions in the applicants' favour. The Bürgeramt, the Ordnungsamt and the Arbeitsagentur are the same. They huff and puff and make an exception "just this time", every time. The inflexibility is an act, unless you're being difficult (from thei…

Except they might not even if you have the correct documents and are as pleasant and cooperative as can be. My experience when it mattered was that my rights were not recognised by the human in the loop. It was solved by going above their heads. If you aren't willing or able you might just get the short end of the stick.

I think that German bureaucrats choose the path of least resistance. Most of the time it means giving you what you ask for.

When you get the short end of the stick, a letter from your lawyer can make it abundantly clear that giving you what you want (and faster) is the path of least resistance.

Re: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

#279

Post by valenterry »

svara wrote: post #271
valenterry wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Hire a tax advisor and accountant through a payroll And this is exactly how you kill off lots of innovation by adding unnecessary hurdles. Tax advisors are Hella expensive and hard to contract even. I'm speaking from experience.

No offense but if that's what kills your entrepreneurial spirit it doesn't sound like it would've carried you very far. It's really not that hard if you want it. You'll need it sooner or later anyway if you want to be more than a one man show. Like I said, you'll be facing a lot of substantially greater challenges.

The world isn't black and white like that. Some people even want to do those things on the side. And some become more than a one man show after some time and without having planned that. Not every one has (or has to have) the kind of extreme passion that you are referring to.

Re: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

#280

Post by andy_ppp »

mhitza wrote: post #155
andy_ppp wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an alternative theory about tech and growth in Europe - the rich are too greedy here and are not optimistic enough about growth. They: a) don’t fund risky things b) don’t believe Europe can create unicorns so it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy for their investments c) try to cash out too quickly from potentially huge businesses d) valuations are half the investment for double the equity, so of course the co…

> don’t believe Europe can create unicorns so it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy for their investments There sure would like though. What I've followed in the Horizon program was a fixation of chasing "last years" technology. Problem was , that for all those funding programmes they had quite stingent company requirements which stopped startups and small companies from having a go at it. Larger companies had no iss…

Can you tell me which regulations are stopping them? The UK for example bent over backwards to make acquiring a banking licence part of a clear process. I think this is harder at the EU level but for me laws like GDPR are actually very reasonable (having implemented a system for container shipping crew, including lots of personal information like passport images).
Post reply on HN