Live data from Hacker News

China

blog.samaltman.com

291–300 of 317 posts

Re: China

#291
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly working really hard without an expectation of being compensated it (either with equity or cash) is dumb. I've argued a lot that startups should give employees more equity, and I think that's shifting. Also, most startups I'm aware of, at least in the bay area, pay large salaries at this point.

> pay large salaries at this point I'd have to disagree. At least based on my definition of large and my experience interviewing in the Valley. For example: If you're making X amount of salary and paying $1500 for a one bedroom in Big City Y, you'd have to make at _least_ $24k more in SV if you wanted a comparable one bedroom apartment. It's probably even more than that as I don't know anyone paying less than $3k for…

I'm not sure why the bit about families is relevant. No-one expects people with families to move across the country for work.

Re: China

#292
post #222

I disagree with a lot of this. The Chinese value the appearance of working hard, not actual hard work. Cheating among Chinese students is pandemic. Chinese companies regularly publish misleading or outright fraudulent earning statements and quarterly reports. While the Chinese government seems to be taking steps to reverse these trends, it will take a long time to undo their culture of corruption. Contrast this with…

In addition this whole thing is anchored on continued growth. At some point there isn't going to be any growth left, specially as pop. growth rates decline and the third world begins toward economic equilibrium. You can't grow forever, at a global scale. At some point, thirty or forty years from now the growth we depend on for economic viability (as a society) is not going to be there. A new model will have to emerge…

[deleted]

Re: China

#293
PPP adjusting GDP to compare economies makes zero sense. The rest of the article, fine. But when you're comparing countries internationally, why on earth would you compare their internal broad average purchasing power (heavily weighted by China's outsized GINI)?

Re: China

#294

I'm sorry but I couldn't get past the first paragraph. It's common misconception that people claim China's economy has overtaken US, it's really a clickbait for media outlets last year. Yes, using a calculation called "purchasing power parity," it looks as if China has passed America. But that calculation is a statistically manufactured one, which supposedly makes up for different costs of living in the two countries…

Yes, thank you -- it makes zero sense to compare economies based on PPP adjusted GDP. Ridiculous.

Re: China

#295

I disagree with a lot of this. The Chinese value the appearance of working hard, not actual hard work. Cheating among Chinese students is pandemic. Chinese companies regularly publish misleading or outright fraudulent earning statements and quarterly reports. While the Chinese government seems to be taking steps to reverse these trends, it will take a long time to undo their culture of corruption. Contrast this with…

>The Chinese value the appearance of working hard, not actual hard work. It's very interesting how deep this type of behavior is ingrained in their culture. For example, western cultures have Aesop fables (e.g. Tortoise and the Hare) which tend to celebrate hard work and punish laziness. Eastern cultures have fables that tend to celebrate being clever or manipulative (e.g. The lion and The Rabbit). It's also interest…

This is textbook confirmation bias. You're ignoring the writings of every Chinese philosopher valuing hard work, the tendency for Chinese schools to value rote memorization--a very work-intensive activity--over creativity, the fact that American railroads were basically built by the Chinese, and the fact that you're likely reading this on a device made by hard-working Chinese hands. Your willingness to see East Asian culture as inherently underhanded because of an internet game is somewhat telling.

>western cultures have Aesop fables (e.g. Tortoise and the Hare) which tend to celebrate hard work and punish laziness. Eastern cultures have fables that tend to celebrate being clever or manipulative (e.g. The lion and The Rabbit).

Aesop fables valuing cleverness: The Clever Sheep, The Crow and the Pitcher, The Ass in the Lion's Skin, the Fox and the Sick Lion, the Fox and the Mask... there are others. Ancient Greek heroes are constantly clever and manipulative.

Well-known Chinese fables celebrating hard work and punishing laziness:

磨杵成针 (Grinding an Iron Pestle into a Needle) Li Bai was fond of playing when he was young, so he was always absent-minded in classes. Today he would catch little birds on the hill, and tomorrow he would pick dates on that hill. One day, he saw an old lady sitting at the riverside when he was crossing the brook. The old lady was grinding an iron pestle without fear of tiredness. On seeing this, Li Bai laughed at her and said: "People who do this job are fools." The old lady answered kindly: "I am determined to grind the iron pestle into a needle even if the iron pestle is so thick and hard. "Li Bai took the iron pestle and felt tired after grinding it for a minute. Then he complained: "Oh, how long can I get it done? I quit." The old lady shook her head and sighed: "The pestle can be grinded into a needle, as long as you keep working hard." The old lady’s words moved him, and Li Bai remembered them by heart. From then on, he spared no pains to study, and eventually became a great poet.

精卫填海 (Jingwei filling the sea) Originally the daughter of the emperor Yandi, Jingwei perished at a young age in the East Sea. After her death she chose to assume the shape of a bird in order to exact revenge upon the sea by bringing stones and small twigs from the mountains nearby over the sea in an effort to fill it up. Jingwei has a short dialogue with the sea where the sea scoffs her, claiming that she wouldn't be able to fill it up even in a million years, whereupon she claims that she will then proceed to take ten million years, even one hundred million years, whatever it takes to fill up the sea so that others would not have to perish as she did.

守株待兔 (waiting by a tree stump for rabbits) In the Spring and Autumn Period, a farmer in the State of Song was one day working in the fields, when he saw a rabbit bump into a tree stump accidentally and break its neck. The farmer took the rabbit home, and cooked himself a delicious meal. That night he thought, "I needn't work so hard. All I have to do is wait for a rabbit each day by the stump." So from then on he gave up farming, and simply sat by the stump waiting for rabbits to come and run into it. The saying satirizes those who wait for strokes of luck instead of working.

Re: China

#296
post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conflict creation for profit is something inherent to humans, not the West alone. We are predators, we eat bunnies, and because bunnies don't kill us in return, we think that it is ok. For example, Spanish conquered South and Central America, but the people that lived there were not conflict free. In fact, if you compare Spanish with Mayans that will extract the heart out of their alive enemies, or their skin, Spanis…

China had only a few types of enemies prior to fighting Europeans - its historical rivals were never fully united and organised states. And it's not like China didn't embrace technology. They in fact did, and used guns and rifles to great effect against tribes in the northwest prior to European "harassment". The only technology they didn't foresee was the steamship, but there was no way to foresee that in the 1750's.…

Does this apply to highly intelligent horde AI that you order to annihilate an opposition with the wave of your hand?

I know this isn't based in current reality, but mark my words when I say that the country that produces the smartest and most effective AI weapons at a sufficient scale will be king.

We're already seeing the first retirements of humans in exchange for AI weapons.

Re: China

#298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> pay large salaries at this point I'd have to disagree. At least based on my definition of large and my experience interviewing in the Valley. For example: If you're making X amount of salary and paying $1500 for a one bedroom in Big City Y, you'd have to make at _least_ $24k more in SV if you wanted a comparable one bedroom apartment. It's probably even more than that as I don't know anyone paying less than $3k for…

I'm not sure why the bit about families is relevant. No-one expects people with families to move across the country for work.

Why not? Do people with families not need to work?

Re: China

#299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, this is why I didn't bother constructing a more robust argument showing the clear trend. Consider that you may be unwilling to entertain the possibility that this phenomenon actually exists.

What "trend" are you referring to? "Cheating among Chinese students is pandemic." is the trend? So it used to be not "pandemic" but has become more and more so recently? That would actually be very interesting to read if not merely backed up by some hand waving stats or anecdotal evidences.

Interesting, I must be striking a chord somewhere, so many downvotes, guess I can never figure out what's happening here...

Re: China

#300
post #145

I disagree with a lot of this. The Chinese value the appearance of working hard, not actual hard work. Cheating among Chinese students is pandemic. Chinese companies regularly publish misleading or outright fraudulent earning statements and quarterly reports. While the Chinese government seems to be taking steps to reverse these trends, it will take a long time to undo their culture of corruption. Contrast this with…

I'm sorry but you don't understand how reserve currencies work and your conclusions are wrong. Michael Pettis has an excellent explanation here: http://blog.mpettis.com/2014/12/my-reading-of-the-ft-on-chin...

> you don't understand how reserve currencies work

You seem to be making a statement of fact about the contents of the author's mind. Do you really have a way of knowing for sure whether the author understands reserve currencies (or anything else)?

> and your conclusions are wrong

I don't think the author could be "wrong" about his opinions, so maybe you're talking about his predictions? If so, I don't understand why you're making a statement of fact that his predictions definitely don't agree with what will actually happen, because that would seem to require knowledge of the future.

Is it possible that you can't be sure whether or not the author understands reserve currencies, and that you can't be sure what will happen in the future, and that you and the author just have different opinions about complex topics?

Post reply on HN