America Lost the Mandate of Heaven • Hacker News Board

Re: America Lost the Mandate of Heaven

#41

Post by indy » Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 10:43 AM UTC

roncesvalles wrote: post #30

The Chinese are not worried about AI taking anyone's job. In fact they're excited by it. For some reason, there is this unbelievably thick air of paranoia in America where everyone is just waiting for the day when their job will go away. To a point where I think it should be classified as mass hysteria and looked into by public health authorities. We should all introspect why so many of us perceive America as this ve…

Do you think there is a level of guilt amongst some working Americans? A case of "I shouldn't be earning this much money for this little work"

Re: America Lost the Mandate of Heaven

#42

Post by SlinkyOnStairs » Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 10:43 AM UTC

roncesvalles wrote: post #30

The Chinese are not worried about AI taking anyone's job. In fact they're excited by it. For some reason, there is this unbelievably thick air of paranoia in America where everyone is just waiting for the day when their job will go away. To a point where I think it should be classified as mass hysteria and looked into by public health authorities. We should all introspect why so many of us perceive America as this ve…

> For some reason

That reason would be the constant proclamation of such by business leaders, and these days, especially by AI company executives.

Just yesterday Elon Musk was in the news again for making noise about the need for a Universal Basic Income, with the clear implication of massive job market disruption.

Re: America Lost the Mandate of Heaven

#43

Post by adjejmxbdjdn » Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 10:43 AM UTC

boxed wrote: post #34

direwolf20 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China is at the forefront of innovation. America is not, except for financial innovation a.k.a. the best ways to get money out of people without doing actual work.

China is a the forefront of catching up. Don't mistake that for innovation. China isn't building the best chips, that's Taiwan with really Netherlands doing the hard part. China is catching up to European car makers except they've largely caught up to Tesla in the powertrain (I partly blame that on Americans boycotting Tesla for silly political reasons). In the AI space obviously China is just running after playing c…

> I partly blame that on Americans boycotting Tesla for silly political reasons

What would be different in Tesla’s output if Americans didn’t start boycotting Tesla less than 2 years ago?

And I’m glad you think killing at least half a million kids in Africa to not even save any money, stealing all our social security data, etc are just “silly political reasons”.

Re: America Lost the Mandate of Heaven

#44

Post by boxed » Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 10:43 AM UTC

roncesvalles wrote: post #30

The Chinese are not worried about AI taking anyone's job. In fact they're excited by it. For some reason, there is this unbelievably thick air of paranoia in America where everyone is just waiting for the day when their job will go away. To a point where I think it should be classified as mass hysteria and looked into by public health authorities. We should all introspect why so many of us perceive America as this ve…

> The Chinese are not worried about AI taking anyone's job. In fact they're excited by it.

Yea, because they are not a democracy, so power concentration and automated violence is a plus, not a minus.

Re: America Lost the Mandate of Heaven

#45

Post by croes » Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 10:44 AM UTC

roncesvalles wrote: post #40

wrren wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, losing your job in America is a lot scarier than in most countries; especially when your whole industry is affected and your skill set has become obsolete. There’s not much of a social safety net to catch you.

The belief that there is no safety net is also part of the paranoia that I'm referring to. America is actually one of the most welfarist states in the world.

Only if you include those countries without welfare.

If you look at those with welfare the US are pretty bad.

Lots of money but badly distributed

Re: America Lost the Mandate of Heaven

#46

Post by croes » Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 10:46 AM UTC

boxed wrote: post #44

roncesvalles wrote: post #30

The Chinese are not worried about AI taking anyone's job. In fact they're excited by it. For some reason, there is this unbelievably thick air of paranoia in America where everyone is just waiting for the day when their job will go away. To a point where I think it should be classified as mass hysteria and looked into by public health authorities. We should all introspect why so many of us perceive America as this ve…

> The Chinese are not worried about AI taking anyone's job. In fact they're excited by it. Yea, because they are not a democracy, so power concentration and automated violence is a plus, not a minus.

Who are "The" Chinese?

Are you both talking about the same group?

Re: America Lost the Mandate of Heaven

#47

Post by pferde » Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 10:46 AM UTC

boxed wrote: post #34

direwolf20 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China is at the forefront of innovation. America is not, except for financial innovation a.k.a. the best ways to get money out of people without doing actual work.

China is a the forefront of catching up. Don't mistake that for innovation. China isn't building the best chips, that's Taiwan with really Netherlands doing the hard part. China is catching up to European car makers except they've largely caught up to Tesla in the powertrain (I partly blame that on Americans boycotting Tesla for silly political reasons). In the AI space obviously China is just running after playing c…

Its owner being a nazi white supremacist is "silly political reason" now? Oh my...

Re: America Lost the Mandate of Heaven

#48

Post by dgacmu » Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 10:47 AM UTC

boxed wrote: post #34

direwolf20 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China is at the forefront of innovation. America is not, except for financial innovation a.k.a. the best ways to get money out of people without doing actual work.

China is a the forefront of catching up. Don't mistake that for innovation. China isn't building the best chips, that's Taiwan with really Netherlands doing the hard part. China is catching up to European car makers except they've largely caught up to Tesla in the powertrain (I partly blame that on Americans boycotting Tesla for silly political reasons). In the AI space obviously China is just running after playing c…

I think it's less about blaming us for boycotting Tesla and more about blaming us for letting our entrenched interests in both oil extraction and ICE cars prevent us from investing in EV development and switching to them faster.

Re: America Lost the Mandate of Heaven

#49

Post by croes » Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 10:47 AM UTC

expedition32 wrote: post #28

Providing healthcare isn't your employer's job it is something that comes from the government. It is the original sin of the American healthcare system. America was on the road to socialism from the 1930s to the 1950s but it all went to shit and here we are: back in the Gilded Age.

It was never on the road to socialism.

Social benefits doesn’t have anything to do with socialism

Re: America Lost the Mandate of Heaven

#50

Post by puchatek » Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 10:48 AM UTC

rock_artist wrote: post #33

> When I was younger I used to think more negatively about jobs, I even called it the jobs problem in my 2019 agentic coding startup template. I have since come around, the point of a society is the flourishing of its inhabitants. That’s the key. The world is a delicate fabric that changes over time. It’s nice (or frustrating) reading opinions. Forecasting the future is tricky. While the world and us humans waste our…

So... What's your point? Sounds like what you identify as key is not relevant to the remainder of your comment.