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China’s tech sector is in the doldrums

economist.com

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Re: China’s tech sector is in the doldrums

#11

Post by adventured »

ElBarto wrote: post #6
blue4 wrote: post #3

> By one count 48 million people in China lack sufficient drinking water. The number of people facing severe drinking water shortages doubled to 5.9 million in early 2008 because of a severe winter drought. China has more than a fifth of the world's population but only 7 percent of its fresh water. Not from the article, but if there was a startup needed and one that could jump start their sector there, a significant…

This is an infrastructure problem. A startup isn't going to solve this. Between lack of water and unsafe water, I'm not sure that the proportion in the US is much different.

> Between lack of water and unsafe water, I'm not sure that the proportion in the US is much different.

Care to show me the figures on that? I don't believe for a second that the US and China are comparable on freshwater when it comes to quality and supply. The US is among the top several nations on freshwater per capita and has a truly vast supply of inexpensive, safe water. Flint was/is such a big deal because it's an exception, not the common. Freshwater supply challenges are exclusive to building large cities in deserts (eg Las Vegas), or poor decisions on allocation (eg California agriculture, which is ~80% of their water use).

Re: China’s tech sector is in the doldrums

#12

Post by ElBarto »

adventured wrote: post #11
ElBarto wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an infrastructure problem. A startup isn't going to solve this. Between lack of water and unsafe water, I'm not sure that the proportion in the US is much different.

> Between lack of water and unsafe water, I'm not sure that the proportion in the US is much different. Care to show me the figures on that? I don't believe for a second that the US and China are comparable on freshwater when it comes to quality and supply. The US is among the top several nations on freshwater per capita and has a truly vast supply of inexpensive, safe water. Flint was/is such a big deal because it's…

One of the first results on Google:

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2018/02/12/tens-mi...

Re: China’s tech sector is in the doldrums

#13

Post by achow »

ElBarto wrote: post #6
blue4 wrote: post #3

> By one count 48 million people in China lack sufficient drinking water. The number of people facing severe drinking water shortages doubled to 5.9 million in early 2008 because of a severe winter drought. China has more than a fifth of the world's population but only 7 percent of its fresh water. Not from the article, but if there was a startup needed and one that could jump start their sector there, a significant…

This is an infrastructure problem. A startup isn't going to solve this. Between lack of water and unsafe water, I'm not sure that the proportion in the US is much different.

Well not really. I stay in a place where water drought is a looming dark cloud on the horizon, so from that perspective..

1. Affordable device that harvests water from air

Water wastage is a huge problem, so..

2. IoT devices that detects leakages in main pipes

3. IoT water meters for individual apartments in housing societies. One of the major problem is water is not metered per households in large apartments, so there is very less incentive to repair leakages (flush etc.) or use water carefully the same way as metered electricity.

4. Rain water harvesting

5. Home water purifier

I maybe missing many more obvious ones but sure there would be many more if one gives this problem space deeper thought.

Re: China’s tech sector is in the doldrums

#14

Post by def- »

valgor wrote: post #9
Waterluvian wrote: post #2

Any time I see an article about China's tech doom I'm skeptical. Are there any solid, trustworthy sources for statistics on these matters? Where should I be looking for signal?

All western, liberal media sources refuse to publish anything that paints China in a good light. I think it is because the US is falling behind while China is pushing forward. However, China media sources are as completely bias as western sources, only in the opposite direction. I suspect reality is some where in the middle.

Sounds familiar:

> Vladimir Bukovsky maintained that the middle ground between the Big Lie of Soviet propaganda and the truth was itself a lie, and one should not be looking for a middle ground between disinformation and information.[5] According to him, people from the Western pluralistic civilization are more prone to this fallacy because they are used to resolving problems by making compromises and accepting alternative interpretations—unlike Russians, who are looking for the absolute truth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_to_moderation

Re: China’s tech sector is in the doldrums

#15

Post by ratling »

valgor wrote: post #9
Waterluvian wrote: post #2

Any time I see an article about China's tech doom I'm skeptical. Are there any solid, trustworthy sources for statistics on these matters? Where should I be looking for signal?

All western, liberal media sources refuse to publish anything that paints China in a good light. I think it is because the US is falling behind while China is pushing forward. However, China media sources are as completely bias as western sources, only in the opposite direction. I suspect reality is some where in the middle.

They aren’t? China is really good at copying/stealing other people’s ideas. Not coming up with the next big thing.

Re: China’s tech sector is in the doldrums

#17

Post by ElBarto »

achow wrote: post #13
ElBarto wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an infrastructure problem. A startup isn't going to solve this. Between lack of water and unsafe water, I'm not sure that the proportion in the US is much different.

Well not really. I stay in a place where water drought is a looming dark cloud on the horizon, so from that perspective.. 1. Affordable device that harvests water from air Water wastage is a huge problem, so.. 2. IoT devices that detects leakages in main pipes 3. IoT water meters for individual apartments in housing societies. One of the major problem is water is not metered per households in large apartments, so the…

Not everything can be solved by IoT/AI/blockchain...

Re: China’s tech sector is in the doldrums

#18

Post by adventured »

ElBarto wrote: post #12
adventured wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Between lack of water and unsafe water, I'm not sure that the proportion in the US is much different. Care to show me the figures on that? I don't believe for a second that the US and China are comparable on freshwater when it comes to quality and supply. The US is among the top several nations on freshwater per capita and has a truly vast supply of inexpensive, safe water. Flint was/is such a big deal because it's…

One of the first results on Google: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2018/02/12/tens-mi...

Your result is including all infractions of any type across the board and indicates that poor water safety is rare and isolated.

To get the total sum, it's compiled over 34 years, and says: "relatively few community water systems (3–10%) incur health-based violations in a given year."

It also states that in the most dense parts of the country, urban regions, there are rarely problems.

As well as this conclusion: "Generally, water systems in the United States provide reliable and high-quality drinking water. Violations tend to be infrequent."

Re: China’s tech sector is in the doldrums

#19

Post by ElBarto »

adventured wrote: post #18
ElBarto wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the first results on Google: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2018/02/12/tens-mi...

Your result is including all infractions of any type across the board and indicates that poor water safety is rare and isolated. To get the total sum, it's compiled over 34 years, and says: "relatively few community water systems (3–10%) incur health-based violations in a given year." It also states that in the most dense parts of the country, urban regions, there are rarely problems. As well as this conclusion: "Gen…

"In 2015, nearly 21 million people relied on community water systems that violated health-based quality standards"

The number given for water access issues in China was 3.5% of the population (which is 'infrequent'...)

That's why I ventured that the situation there is not that bad proportionally to population.

Why arguing on something that isn't even the main point of my initial comment... It's exhausting. It also feels like an attempt at denying issues.

Re: China’s tech sector is in the doldrums

#20

Post by exabrial »

adventured wrote: post #5
blue4 wrote: post #3

> By one count 48 million people in China lack sufficient drinking water. The number of people facing severe drinking water shortages doubled to 5.9 million in early 2008 because of a severe winter drought. China has more than a fifth of the world's population but only 7 percent of its fresh water. Not from the article, but if there was a startup needed and one that could jump start their sector there, a significant…

What's China's position when it comes to desalination? I'd expect they have massive desalination plants along their large coast.

The problem isn't the lack of fresh water sources, the distribution network is riddled with pathogens. This is due to poor design and workers taking shortcuts (not performing sanitation steps to meet deadlines).
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