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America Lost the Mandate of Heaven

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Re: America Lost the Mandate of Heaven

#101

Post by krackers »

stingraycharles wrote: post #76
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.

They’re transitioning to the forefront of innovation, but they’re definitely not at the forefront yet. They’re good at implementing things, not yet innovation. They desperately do need to do that, though, because manufacturing alone isn’t going to grow their economy any further, as wages in China are already becoming high enough that they’re becoming less attractive to foreign investors. They’re strategically well po…

>manufacturing alone isn’t going to grow their economy any further.

But why does the economy need to grow? If you can manufacture everything you need, and you have access to the raw resources, what else do you need as a country. In what sense is growing your economy with VC scams like Juicero better than actually having industrial output?

Re: America Lost the Mandate of Heaven

#102

Post by JumpCrisscross »

iamnothere wrote: post #78
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> TikTok was a Chinese app that had no qualms against shooting Americans what their country does If one wanted deeply pessimistic takes on America and Americans, there has been a media market for that since at least the advent of cable news. Mistaking TikTok, one expression of a phenomenon, for the general trend is mistaking a tree for a forest.

There has historically been a lot of US-critical content manufactured by the US, which normally deflects criticism towards individual failings, external enemies, or surrogate political effigies. A few examples: Falling Down, Bulworth, American Beauty, all the other 90s/00s media critical of suburbia, 24, The Daily Show. Most of these are left-coded, I’m not as familiar with the right-coded stuff (I usually tuned it o…

> which normally deflects criticism towards individual failings, external enemies, or surrogate political effigies

And next to that is the ever-profitable imperialist/capitalist/inherently-racist pigs content.

> the first time that a mirror was held up to US politics from a global perspective, where the masses could get a less fitered and channeled understanding of how they are seen by the world

This was happening simultaneously on other tech platforms. Moderation varied. But I think a lot of people are mixing up the tail and the dog in terms of which way causation flowed.

Re: America Lost the Mandate of Heaven

#103

Post by JumpCrisscross »

sillyfluke wrote: post #84
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how has the US lost the plot within such a short time? How did it go from the flag bearer of freedom and progress to isolationist bully that wants to invade Greenland and become best friends with Russia? American culture has lost its near-monopoly on optimism. We're now almost as cynical as the Europeans. (:D) That cynicism means civic disengagement, technological doomerism and general symptoms of depression. That…

>That cynicism means civic disengagement By what metric? You have to go through Scandinavia, Germany, Spain, and a few Eastern european countries before you get to the US on voter turnout. Not to mention labor unions striking as a form of political protest (eg Italian labor unions striking against the Gaza war). And depression prevalence also seems to be higher in the US. Did you mean worse than Europe instead of "al…

Fair. Maybe it's fatalism I'm mistakenly proxying for cynicism?

Re: America Lost the Mandate of Heaven

#104

Post by direwolf20 »

leonidasrup wrote: post #73
tristanj wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China is the world leader in Drones, Electric vehicles, Batteries, Solar Panels, Electronics, Robotics, High-Speed Rail, Industrial equipment, Nuclear energy, Telecommunications Equipment, Cameras, Shipbuilding, Scientific research, rapid mobile payments. Tied for AI, Smartphones Semiconductors, rockets, and aerospace are probably the only sectors china is behind in. China is the most technologically advanced society…

> They are far far ahead of anyone else in using technology to make society easier. Many government services can be handled easily on your phone. This is just a side effect of using technology to control the population. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_credit_system

In the US, the government still uses technology to control you, but you don't get convenient tax filing either.

Re: America Lost the Mandate of Heaven

#107

Post by potsandpans »

OutOfHere wrote: post #89
blactuary wrote: post #88

This dude is an absolute nutcase, and a perfect example of being smart in one narrow domain and thinking it transfers to everything https://geohot.github.io/blog/jekyll/update/2026/04/18/five-... In another post he's quoting Curtis Yarvin. Can't say on here what should be said

All the linked articles of his site read like nonsense to me, but also dangerous nonsense.

Oh no, not "dangerous nonsense"!

Re: America Lost the Mandate of Heaven

#108

Post by curio_Pol_curio »

krackers wrote: post #101
stingraycharles wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’re transitioning to the forefront of innovation, but they’re definitely not at the forefront yet. They’re good at implementing things, not yet innovation. They desperately do need to do that, though, because manufacturing alone isn’t going to grow their economy any further, as wages in China are already becoming high enough that they’re becoming less attractive to foreign investors. They’re strategically well po…

>manufacturing alone isn’t going to grow their economy any further. But why does the economy need to grow? If you can manufacture everything you need, and you have access to the raw resources, what else do you need as a country. In what sense is growing your economy with VC scams like Juicero better than actually having industrial output?

I just realised that this is why SV centre-right is lowkey obsessed with Japan.

Contrast with the SV-aligned execs-turned-thought-leaders from decades ago that used to claim that it is not in the cultural DNA of Japan to innovate. They don't say that now, but they still look to Japan for inspiration as Steve Jobs used to do before it got fashionable

Today, Japan has a diverse economy but one could argue in good faith that its the lack of financial innovation that's holding them back

(Lack of raw resources very much a red herring-- as ever, something that the almost perennially rightwing Japanese government has never gotten less OCD about)

Another "mesocosm": Hollywood is _quietly_ looking East for "cultural innovation", bc the studio system "knows" that not even Korea can catch up. Is bigtech this certain? Do they have to MJGA before MAGA?

Re: America Lost the Mandate of Heaven

#110

Post by JMiao »

stingraycharles wrote: post #9
pm90 wrote: post #3

I was expecting a more nuanced article that talked about the “Suez Moment” in America but this is basically a (not even a good) critique of deindustrialization.

Yeah it's a very short-sighted article. Taking a quote like this: > I can’t believe those who seriously try and say America’s value is in consuming. as a case against outsourcing manufacturing really doesn't understand the value that societies create when they are on the forefront of innovation. Maybe, just maybe , at a certain point physical labour is not the best way to use your working population, but instead, you…

ok, any ideas for the best way to use our working population? soldiers, amazon vine reviewers? we have a lot of people with high lifestyle expectations (by global standards) and no interest in pursuing specialized education that allows them to participate in the future. and there may not be enough seats in the future.
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