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

Living outside America

ryancarson.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 216 posts

Re: Living outside America

#171

Post by mc32 »

sneak wrote: post #38
rdl wrote: post #3

Living and traveling outside the US (Europe, Middle East, Asia) for ~15 years convinced me of the inherent superiority of the US (culturally, economically, etc.). Our government is broken, but generally the US lets problems get really inefficiently bad, then overcorrects, so I hope that will happen in the next 20 years. The threats to the US are not other countries getting better than us, but the decline of the natio…

> There are plenty of specific areas where other countries are better than the US, but no single country which is enough better on enough things to be a serious competitor. Germany. Better education, better attitude, more open-minded, less harassment for being weird/nonstandard, median level of critical thinking ability, healthier food, better transport, more cultural things to do/see, better solutions to the growing…

Germany does not have the population (and the pop is getting older, but not as fast as Japan's).

The contenders are: China, India (a unified Europe -but age is a problem). Russia is borderline has tremendous resources, but lacks the population and suffers from a paternalistic state (very tsarist in modern clothes).

Plus, Germany depends on foreign demand. When the world economy tanks, German economy tanks because there isn't enough internal consumption to pick up the slack --just as in Japan.

Re: Living outside America

#172

Post by mc32 »

rdl wrote: post #49
sneak wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are plenty of specific areas where other countries are better than the US, but no single country which is enough better on enough things to be a serious competitor. Germany. Better education, better attitude, more open-minded, less harassment for being weird/nonstandard, median level of critical thinking ability, healthier food, better transport, more cultural things to do/see, better solutions to the growing…

I haven't lived in Germany (I've visited for maybe 3 weeks total), and in terms of quality of life, it wasn't that different from the US, at least for the things you see as a short-term tourist. Lots of stuff was more expensive (vs. SF baseline), and rural Germany around 2000 was pretty undeveloped, but Berlin would be more representative. I'm also using SFBA, NY, Boston, Seattle as exemplars of the US. I'd rather li…

W/re UK. Chris Kipllip did a photo documentary called "In Flagrante". NE England in the 80's (not sure about now) was a depressed place to be.

Re: Living outside America

#173

Post by waterlesscloud »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #30
mixmax wrote: post #9

This is a great article, and as a European I can relate to all of his points. Here are some comments from the other side of the pond; they're of course my personal opinion but I think they're somewhat representative of the European view. I don’t view the USA as the center of the world - i see America as an overreaching empire that has had it's heyday. If you take a historical perspective this is how many empires fall…

I've been an out American for 7 years now, first two in Switzerland, the last 5 in China. I still think America has a lot going for it. Switzerland is efficient and fair, but something is missing because of restrained competition and protectionism. China is the exact opposite, and its hard to believe the system works at all. For whatever troubles America has, our system still works and is rather effective; no one is…

"There are no more superpowers, not when IEDs are easy enough to procure by anyone."

I think this is a myth, and potentially a very dangerous one.

Asymmetric warfare only works when the side with greater symmetric power holds back due to other (political) concerns. If the US used full power in a total-war unrestrained sense, IEDs would be wholly irrelevant to the outcome. That's true even in a war using"just" unrestrained conventional weapons.

The lessons from Viet Nam, Iraq, Somalia, etc. are valuable for both sides in situations where there is no political will for unrestrained power, but don't make the mistake of believing that unrestrained power is forever off the table.

To me, at least, it seems like making that mistake in thought, on either side, virtually guarantees that it will some day come right back on the table, and with a vengeance.

Re: Living outside America

#174

Post by waterlesscloud »

mc32 wrote: post #172
rdl wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't lived in Germany (I've visited for maybe 3 weeks total), and in terms of quality of life, it wasn't that different from the US, at least for the things you see as a short-term tourist. Lots of stuff was more expensive (vs. SF baseline), and rural Germany around 2000 was pretty undeveloped, but Berlin would be more representative. I'm also using SFBA, NY, Boston, Seattle as exemplars of the US. I'd rather li…

W/re UK. Chris Kipllip did a photo documentary called "In Flagrante". NE England in the 80's (not sure about now) was a depressed place to be.

The movies of Andrea Arnold were revealing in a certain way. "Red Road" and "Fish Tank", as well as her short film "Wasp". All set in the world of UK council estates(like US housing projects). A poor underclass with many of the same features as the poor underclass in the US.

Great films, worth watching.

You can see Wasp, which won an Oscar for best short film, here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aJjj8v3xVs

Trailer for Fish Tank, featuring Michael Fassbender: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg1yMOdjyp0

Re: Living outside America

#175

Post by spiredigital »

Last year, I spent seven months traveling the world and came back with a much greater appreciation for the U.S. Does America have its issues like any other country? Of course. And are there things as an American I would change? Absolutely. But in spite of its flaws, it's still an incredible land of innovation, personal opportunity and a (relatively) corruption free country.

It's certainly chic to hate on America these days, but I now tend to give much less credence to those who do.

Re: Living outside America

#176

Post by stevenwei »

tzs wrote: post #98
citricsquid wrote: post #10

> I stopped calling myself a Christian Specific to this point as someone that has lived in England forever I find it really strange how on the reddit atheism subreddit all the (American) posters act as if they're persecuted for their Atheism whereas in England religion is just something people do in private if they do it at all, it's hard for me to understand the way r/atheism posters perceive their persecution, but…

You can't really conclude much about atheism from /r/atheism. That subreddit is an embarrassment to atheists who are capable of arguing above a junior high school level.

I think that's cause the demographic is mostly teenagers that have been forced into a religious upbringing for most of their lives, and are discovering atheism for the first time.

(Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that.)

Re: Living outside America

#177

Post by culturestate »

intellegacy wrote: post #79

To really understand America, you must not only live in it, but also live outside it. Note: I am from the USA, and "we" or "our" refers to us Americans. I spent 3 years abroad, recently returning to the USA this summer, and I will try to outline some of what I learned, although it is somewhat difficult as this knowledge has become ingrained in me and obvious as to seem to require no explanation. - English as lingua f…

> Take a look at prices for electronics in Asia, for example. In the very places where the electronics are made, the retail prices are all significantly higher than those in the US. Samsung and LG TVs cost more in Korea than they do in America. Computers cost more in China than they do in the USA. I frequently found myself waiting until I returned to US soil before I made any big ticket electronic or computer purchases, because the savings were ridiculous.

On this point, it's important to note that the price disparity is largely due to the way items are taxed in Asia. South Korea has both VAT and a luxury item tax; China has a luxury tax on foreign brands. You need only look to Hong Kong, which has the cheapest prices in the world on e.g. Apple products (because you need a microscope to find a tax in Hong Kong) to break down this model. Your main point re: currency manipulation, especially in China, is still valid and important, but this is a bad example.

Re: Living outside America

#178

Post by jarek »

rdtsc wrote: post #148
mixmax wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm writing this on a computer produced in China, running an operating systeem developed by a Finn, delivered to you via the world wide web which comes from CERN.

> a computer produced in China Is it an American company that made it? Yeah it could have been produced in China because labor there is cheaper than in California. Next year it could be produced in Vietnam. > running an operating systeem developed by a Finn Last I checked he is an American citizen, isn't he? So +1 for America then? Would you agree? If you go by your logic, then nothing from America is from America, b…

> Is it an American company that made it?

No shortage of non-American computer and personal electronics manufacturers I can think of.

> Last I checked he is an American citizen, isn't he?

He wasn't for 95% of his life...

Re: Living outside America

#179

Post by stevenwei »

The one thing I keep noticing while traveling outside America is how few Americans actually travel. I have encountered tons of Europeans/Australians but don't really come across that many Americans.

Re: Living outside America

#180

Post by johnx123-up »

tzs wrote: post #94

> When I moved to the UK, most people I met didn’t believe in God or Christianity. The UK is largely a non-Christian country. No, you've went into a field whose practitioners are largely non-Christian, and since you've probably acquired most of your social circle directly or indirectly through that you mostly meet non-Christians. If a kid who grew up in a religious family in London and went to a religious school most…

I'm also surprised to know that UK--the country that once sent missionaries across the globe is non-Christian now.
Post reply on HN