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2025 Letter

danwang.co

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Re: 2025 Letter

#211

Post by hahaxdxd123 »

kankerlijer wrote: post #89
kubb wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He’s a Chinese guy in the US. He thinks in terms of large monoliths. The nuance of 40 different cultures on a small continent might be lost on him. That’s OK. We all have some approximation of reality in our brains which is necessarily shaped by our life experiences.

There is something very irritating seeing someone dismiss someone else on the internet using condescending therapy speak 'Thats Ok', nevermind the fact that calling him out as some ignorant Chinese guy while China has hundreds of cultures and languages, as if a Chinese person couldn't comprehend... Europe.

It's a European guy coping on HN.

That's OK.

They have no idea my sub-region of California produces the entire GDP of their country.

Re: 2025 Letter

#213

Post by jimnotgym »

ford wrote: post #159
jimnotgym wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, 30 years ago a working man doing 40 hours a week in a factory could still support a family on one income and expect to own a house. We hit a peak 30-40 years ago.

I hear this often, but I think this discounts the fact that this was mostly true for the US/Western Europe at a time where they enjoyed unilateral super-powerism as a result of winning WWII. I'm not sure that kind of prosperity is normal (though I hope it could be). I'm worried the harsh reality for most humans is that life is often not that easy. And if it is, it won't be for long

But there is still enough wealth for all of those houses to exist. That tells me the world is wealthy enough, but it is in the hands of different people

Re: 2025 Letter

#214

Post by snake_doc »

keiferski wrote: post #201

The insights on American and Chinese industry / tech are undercut by the generic stereotypical “Europeans are smug and backward-looking” comments. A bit disappointing that someone who spends a ton of time analyzing two complex societies (China and the US) falls into Reddit-tier caricature on a third.

Would you be able provide some evidence to the contrary when it comes to the topics discussed in the letter?

On industrial infrastructure

On technology innovation

On internet regulation

On central planning

Otherwise, your comment becomes an anecdote supporting the common stereotypes (assuming you’re from Europe).

Re: 2025 Letter

#215

Post by OGEnthusiast »

keiferski wrote: post #201

The insights on American and Chinese industry / tech are undercut by the generic stereotypical “Europeans are smug and backward-looking” comments. A bit disappointing that someone who spends a ton of time analyzing two complex societies (China and the US) falls into Reddit-tier caricature on a third.

[flagged]

Re: 2025 Letter

#216

Post by ryukoposting »

I've lived in Silicon Valley for exactly 3 days now. Recently moved from the Midwest.

There are two kinds of people in San Jose: locals who are normal folks you'd find anywhere, and techies with the AI brainworm. People who are astonished by the natural beauty of this place, and people who are astonished by an office park because there are Apple and Nvidia logos on it. It's all incredibly weird and I don't like it much.

Re: 2025 Letter

#217

Post by ceuk »

senordevnyc wrote: post #149
ceuk wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Americans don’t really have much of a concept of what European identity is, and we don’t really care Cool. Look, I made that comment with a lot of fondness, but if this is the case, maybe leave the European analysis to someone else..

Yeah, it was dripping with fondness.

It was really poorly written in hindsight. I didn't mean for it to come across as bitter/accusatory as it does and you don't deserve to read people talking random jabs at you when browsing HN comments, I'm sorry

Re: 2025 Letter

#218

Post by keiferski »

OGEnthusiast wrote: post #215
keiferski wrote: post #201

The insights on American and Chinese industry / tech are undercut by the generic stereotypical “Europeans are smug and backward-looking” comments. A bit disappointing that someone who spends a ton of time analyzing two complex societies (China and the US) falls into Reddit-tier caricature on a third.

[flagged]

I was using Reddit-tier as an indicator of low quality, not specific viewpoints.

Re: 2025 Letter

#219

Post by mattding »

kaonwarb wrote: post #2

I recommend Dan’s book ( https://danwang.co/breakneck/ ) to those wanting to better understand China - and the United States.

+1 biggest takeaway from me was that China / Asian societies emphasize process knowledge, which does not seem to be the case for U.S. tech in my working experience.

Re: 2025 Letter

#220

Post by keiferski »

snake_doc wrote: post #214
keiferski wrote: post #201

The insights on American and Chinese industry / tech are undercut by the generic stereotypical “Europeans are smug and backward-looking” comments. A bit disappointing that someone who spends a ton of time analyzing two complex societies (China and the US) falls into Reddit-tier caricature on a third.

Would you be able provide some evidence to the contrary when it comes to the topics discussed in the letter? On industrial infrastructure On technology innovation On internet regulation On central planning Otherwise, your comment becomes an anecdote supporting the common stereotypes (assuming you’re from Europe).

I’m responding to comments like this in the article:

So I am betting that the US and China are more compelling forces for change. Stalin was fond of telling a story from his experience in Leipzig in 1907, when, to his astonishment, 200 German workers failed to turn up to a socialist meeting because no ticket controller was on the platform to punch their train tickets, citing this experience as proof of the hopelessness of Germanic obedience. Could anyone imagine Chinese or Americans being so obedient?

This isn’t a serious analysis of German culture. It’s perfectly fine to argue that certain countries are economically or industrially problematic, but when you throw in comments like this, it really doesn’t help your argument.

And I’m not from Europe, but I have lived here for years. The constant clueless comments by my fellow North Americans about the somehow monolithic entity of “Europe” are irritating.

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