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Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016

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Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016

#251

Post by reducesuffering »

another_story wrote: post #170
vmception wrote: post #128

the comments, lol! > Maybe one day he should think about resettling to China… just saying. I mean yeah? Maybe? It's really not that hard to understand how to maintain high standing in multiple conflicting societies. Doing so in China is also not that difficult or bothersome, not any harder than maintaining good standing in a private platform like Youtube the analogy being that the arbitrary decisions follow unspoken…

Day to day life in China is easy if you're in a Tier 1 city, able to speak/read Chinese, don't require stable access to non-China based internet services, don't mind the pollutuon and are not black or Indian. Even with some of these it's still OK, but it can be aggravating quickly. I feel like there is always someone in every apartment block constantly renovating and the drills on the walls never cease. Also, try tra…

What about the lifestyle of an average white collar job though? Don't they generally have a similar 50-60 hour week like other East Asian countries, South Korea and Japan, that would be considered quite excessive by western standards?

Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016

#252

Post by microtherion »

simonh wrote: post #208
kelnos wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not disagreeing with what Thiel is saying here, but it's pretty hypocritical for him to be criticizing here considering he's the co-founder of Palantir, a company that feeds some tasty tasty morsels to the surveillance state and military-industrial complex.

Thiel seems to genuinely believe the USA, and the west in general, is in an existential struggle with forces intent on destroying it. I can’t speak for him, but maybe Islamic fundamentalists, authoritarian autocracies like Russia, Chinese communism, etc. If you genuinely believe that, then putting ever more powerful intelligence gathering tools in the hands of western governments, even at some risk of threats to free…

> Thiel seems to genuinely believe the USA, and the west in general, is in an existential struggle with forces intent on destroying it. I can’t speak for him, but maybe Islamic fundamentalists, authoritarian autocracies like Russia, Chinese communism, etc.

I believe such a struggle exists as well. But I have my doubts whether one would find him fighting AGAINST the authoritarians.

Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016

#253

Post by mikehotel »

SllX wrote: post #220
acomjean wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their cpus are manufactured in Taiwan, which is kinda China. Those bleeding edge components are important to excellent performance of their products.

Taiwan is an independent nation.

“The United States does not support Taiwan independence.”

https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-taiwan/

Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016

#254

Post by gonehome »

simonh wrote: post #208
kelnos wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not disagreeing with what Thiel is saying here, but it's pretty hypocritical for him to be criticizing here considering he's the co-founder of Palantir, a company that feeds some tasty tasty morsels to the surveillance state and military-industrial complex.

Thiel seems to genuinely believe the USA, and the west in general, is in an existential struggle with forces intent on destroying it. I can’t speak for him, but maybe Islamic fundamentalists, authoritarian autocracies like Russia, Chinese communism, etc. If you genuinely believe that, then putting ever more powerful intelligence gathering tools in the hands of western governments, even at some risk of threats to free…

Yes - Palantir was born out of 9/11. The idea being that US institutions need software that actually works and has tight controls around PCL.

Otherwise more attacks will happen and the reflexive response will be an increase in authoritarianism at the expense of western ideals.

I don’t personally agree with his support of trump (I see it as a partisan blind spot because of his Cato institute Republican identity) to me trump increases authoritarian risk in the US. Otherwise I agree with a lot of Thiel’s positions, even where I disagree it’s rare that his position is not thoughtful.

Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016

#255

Post by [deleted] »

joakleaf wrote: post #241
misnome wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are they deceiving people outside China when only showing the difference inside China?

Well, for one thing because we outside China would automatically assume they are showing the same thing inside China as we see. Now we know that is not true. That is deceptive. ... And a a shareholder, I was also kept in the dark -- Which is actually also pretty problematic and deceptive.

[deleted]

Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016

#256

Post by seb1204 »

kelnos wrote: post #102
qeternity wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally get that people want companies to act with dignity, but the idea that a company, even one as large as Apple, is going to make any sort of difference with respect to China's oddities is wishful thinking. Apple has a business to run. They abide by all sorts of requests in various countries in which they operate. Of course there has to be a line somewhere, I'm just not sure this is it.

I know this would never happen, but I wish companies would just default to not doing business in China, unless they are able to sell their product, uncompromised. I wouldn't mind legislation to that effect, though I'm sure that would come with a ton of unintended consequences. If China (and similar repressive regimes) wants these sorts of products with onerous restrictions built in, they should have to build them the…

I support that. At the same time I assume you have written this in a device manufactured in China together with many companies there object we have in our daily lives. Are enough of us willing to abstain from these devices?

Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016

#257

Post by wyattpeak »

hereforphone wrote: post #203
gonehome wrote: post #14

Apple’s approach to China remains the most disappointing (and hypocritical) thing about the company. When privacy really matters for the users that need it most, Apple sells them out for continued access to the Chinese market. https://stratechery.com/2021/the-information-on-apple-in-chi...

I have a secret to share. Apple and others may virtual signal but at the end of the day it's all about profits. If you believed otherwise you were mislead. "Think Different" is just a commercial slogan.

I find this attitude, as common as it is, a bit of a non-argument. Every company is motivated by profits, and yet I have vastly different opinions on the behaviours of different companies.

Even when you have one ultimate goal, there are a thousand different ways to go about it, including to behave in ways I find admirable in order to secure my business going forward. It's fairly irrelevant to me why you're behaving the way you are, so long as you are.

Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016

#258

Post by seanmcdirmid »

ntSean wrote: post #173
tonyhb wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, as much as people like to throw shade at Google, we can say that they haven't caved on this. That's a plus for them.

It’s not that they didn’t cave, Google products are unavailable due to sanctions. Google Search for example was heavily modified for the Chinese market.

Google did actually make a stand here a decade back, and have been blocked ever since. The last straw for them at the time, however, wasn't political pressure to make some islands look bigger or censor some websites, but espionage.

Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016

#259

Post by mc32 »

tonyhb wrote: post #149
topicseed wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Maps is blocked in China, I think.

So, as much as people like to throw shade at Google, we can say that they haven't caved on this. That's a plus for them.

Google withdrew from the Chinese market for multiple reasons, but one influential one was the state sponsored penetration of Google ops in China.

Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016

#260

Post by gonehome »

hereforphone wrote: post #203
gonehome wrote: post #14

Apple’s approach to China remains the most disappointing (and hypocritical) thing about the company. When privacy really matters for the users that need it most, Apple sells them out for continued access to the Chinese market. https://stratechery.com/2021/the-information-on-apple-in-chi...

I have a secret to share. Apple and others may virtual signal but at the end of the day it's all about profits. If you believed otherwise you were mislead. "Think Different" is just a commercial slogan.

Corporations are made up of people and people can make decisions despite incentives to behave otherwise.

I’d argue Zuckerberg did this in his Georgetown speech [0]. Recently the head of the woman’s tennis association did too when pulling out of China. Palantir is also principled about this (read their S1) - though incentives are more aligned there.

Add in the South Park writers too.

It is possible to do the right thing in difficult contexts - and that should be the goal.

[0]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/10/17/zuckerb...

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