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

Escaping the trap of US tech dependence

disconnect.blog

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 114 posts

Re: Escaping the trap of US tech dependence

#31

Post by fooker »

CodingJeebus wrote: post #11
cmiles8 wrote: post #5

“You told me these were the best engineers in the world!!” “I said they were the best engineers in Canada” (Great quote from the BlackBerry movie). Rings true here. You can’t fight market forces. To push out the US tech you need to build something that’s better than the US tech. Anything else is just wishful thinking.

> To push out the US tech you need to build something that’s better than the US tech. Anything else is just wishful thinking. Not true at all, a perfect example from the ride-sharing world. Lyft and Uber left Austin a decade ago over a city ordinance requiring background checks, so a couple local tech folks pitched in a very small amount of money, relatively speaking, and built a non-profit version of Uber. Everyone…

Your story makes the point that the nonprofit app only worked under new government regulations and could not survive in the free market?

I do think more infrastructure should be non-profit, but if someone makes a for-profit version that beats you there’s not really much to do other than hoping the government has your back.

Re: Escaping the trap of US tech dependence

#32

Post by BlackjackCF »

shimman wrote: post #7
cmiles8 wrote: post #5

“You told me these were the best engineers in the world!!” “I said they were the best engineers in Canada” (Great quote from the BlackBerry movie). Rings true here. You can’t fight market forces. To push out the US tech you need to build something that’s better than the US tech. Anything else is just wishful thinking.

Is US tech even good anymore? Do none of us not encounter the massive amount of shit from companies like Google, MSFT, Apple, Amazon, etc as users? Truly terrible bugs or user flows from engineers that clearly don't care while everyone is just collecting their own share of blood. I can't think of a single thing that big tech has done to improve my life, or society for that matter, over the last 10 years. All US Tech…

I see US (software) tech going the way of Boeing and Intel in the next decade. I’m not sure what their long term goals are, or if they even have any beyond chasing large/quick short term profits, but you can only enshittify your product and abuse your customers for so long before they start abandoning you.

Re: Escaping the trap of US tech dependence

#33

Post by dekrg »

Loughla wrote: post #22
palmotea wrote: post #10

The easiest was of escaping the trap of US tech dependence, is to buy your tech from China. Everything they have is very advanced, and cheap to boot. Huawei instead of Apple, WeChat instead of WhatsApp, etc. Everyone wins except Trump.

Is China a better country to rely on?

You mean compared to the country that is bombing other countries, kidnapping their leaders while also threatening to annex territory of its ally?

Re: Escaping the trap of US tech dependence

#34

Post by fooker »

torton wrote: post #27
terminalshort wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You absolutely can fight market forces. China did it for decades with their car industry. Chinese people were financially forced to buy inferior Chinese cars to support a domestic industry until it learned to compete in the global market. Very difficult to do this in a democracy, though.

Isn't that the exact description of the current U.S. car market?

I am going to find this irony hilarious for eternity.

Cars are cheaper and better outside America, the so called car capital of the world.

Go to one of these SoCal car conventions, it’s amazing how all the car reviewers go wide eyed at the Chinese cars in display.

Re: Escaping the trap of US tech dependence

#35

Post by fooker »

shimman wrote: post #7
cmiles8 wrote: post #5

“You told me these were the best engineers in the world!!” “I said they were the best engineers in Canada” (Great quote from the BlackBerry movie). Rings true here. You can’t fight market forces. To push out the US tech you need to build something that’s better than the US tech. Anything else is just wishful thinking.

Is US tech even good anymore? Do none of us not encounter the massive amount of shit from companies like Google, MSFT, Apple, Amazon, etc as users? Truly terrible bugs or user flows from engineers that clearly don't care while everyone is just collecting their own share of blood. I can't think of a single thing that big tech has done to improve my life, or society for that matter, over the last 10 years. All US Tech…

What has Rome ever done for us?

Re: Escaping the trap of US tech dependence

#36

Post by politelemon »

OGEnthusiast wrote: post #15
shimman wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is US tech even good anymore? Do none of us not encounter the massive amount of shit from companies like Google, MSFT, Apple, Amazon, etc as users? Truly terrible bugs or user flows from engineers that clearly don't care while everyone is just collecting their own share of blood. I can't think of a single thing that big tech has done to improve my life, or society for that matter, over the last 10 years. All US Tech…

> I can't think of a single thing that big tech has done to improve my life, or society for that matter, over the last 10 years. Apple silicon has been pretty transformative for desktop/laptop-class chips.

It has been transformative for the insidious kind of lock-in that the post mentions.

Re: Escaping the trap of US tech dependence

#37

Post by estimator7292 »

cmiles8 wrote: post #5

“You told me these were the best engineers in the world!!” “I said they were the best engineers in Canada” (Great quote from the BlackBerry movie). Rings true here. You can’t fight market forces. To push out the US tech you need to build something that’s better than the US tech. Anything else is just wishful thinking.

Good thing that US Tech is building the worst technology possible. Should make things a lot simpler

Re: Escaping the trap of US tech dependence

#38

Post by estimator7292 »

fooker wrote: post #31
CodingJeebus wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To push out the US tech you need to build something that’s better than the US tech. Anything else is just wishful thinking. Not true at all, a perfect example from the ride-sharing world. Lyft and Uber left Austin a decade ago over a city ordinance requiring background checks, so a couple local tech folks pitched in a very small amount of money, relatively speaking, and built a non-profit version of Uber. Everyone…

Your story makes the point that the nonprofit app only worked under new government regulations and could not survive in the free market? I do think more infrastructure should be non-profit, but if someone makes a for-profit version that beats you there’s not really much to do other than hoping the government has your back.

It wasn't a free market, it was an anticompetitive market

Re: Escaping the trap of US tech dependence

#40

Post by loeg »

SilverElfin wrote: post #20

This is written from a Canadian perspective, but even within America, there are good reasons to stop giving money to American tech companies and find alternatives. The founders and executives and investors of all of these companies have become wealthy and powerful. Now they are dismantling the country by funding a certain political group and looking the other way as that same group seeks to deport 100 million America…

> [Republicans] [seek] to deport 100 million Americans (basically all non whites), invade allied nations,

You think these are statements of fact?

Post reply on HN