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2025 Letter

danwang.co

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Re: 2025 Letter

#41

Post by 152334H »

strange_quark wrote: post #11

> I believe that Silicon Valley possesses plenty of virtues. To start, it is the most meritocratic part of America. Oh come on, this is so untrue. Silicon Valley loves credentialism and networking, probably more than anywhere else. Except the credentials are the companies you’ve worked for or whether you know some founder or VC, instead of what school you went to or which degrees you have. I went to a smaller college…

note that the first chunk of the piece spends time to analogize SV to the CCP, in terms of its willingness to take attacks (of humor).

So, for your quote, a skeptical interpretation of the text may assert the author was merely praising SV in the same fashion one might appraise the party.

Re: 2025 Letter

#42

Post by lawn »

apples_oranges wrote: post #16
152334H wrote: post #5

> Beijing has been preparing for Cold War without eagerness for waging it, while the US wants to wage a Cold War without preparing for it. great line

It's not clear what the US plan even is. Move all manufacturing back home and compete with China ASAP?

Plan?

They don't even have a concept of a plan.

Re: 2025 Letter

#43

Post by crubier »

scubbo wrote: post #27

A fascinating and eye-opening read. One of my intentions for this coming year is to critically examine and (if appropriate) alter or dispel some preconceptions I have. To that end, I'm curious about this part: > You don’t have to convince the elites or the populace that growth is good or that entrepreneurs could be celebrated. Meanwhile in Europe, perhaps 15 percent of the electorate actively believes in degrowth. I…

> Can someone elaborate on how growth is aligned with the general interest?

Empirically, the past 200 years have seen high growth globally, and human well being has improved massively as a result. Life expectancy has skyrocketed, infant death, hunger have gone down to near zero, literacy has gone up, work is much more comfortable, interesting and rewarding, etc. But at a more fundamental level, our material quality of life is that of literal kings. The 1st decile poorest people in the US or Europe have much better living conditions than a king of 500 years ago. We are so lucky to benefit from this, yet we completely forgot that fact. You complain about congestion and advertizing, but with degrowth you would complain about hunger and dying from cold during winter.

Re: 2025 Letter

#44

Post by [deleted] »

scubbo wrote: post #27

A fascinating and eye-opening read. One of my intentions for this coming year is to critically examine and (if appropriate) alter or dispel some preconceptions I have. To that end, I'm curious about this part: > You don’t have to convince the elites or the populace that growth is good or that entrepreneurs could be celebrated. Meanwhile in Europe, perhaps 15 percent of the electorate actively believes in degrowth. I…

[deleted]

Re: 2025 Letter

#45

Post by glitchc »

apples_oranges wrote: post #16
152334H wrote: post #5

> Beijing has been preparing for Cold War without eagerness for waging it, while the US wants to wage a Cold War without preparing for it. great line

It's not clear what the US plan even is. Move all manufacturing back home and compete with China ASAP?

The US doesn't have a plan, it has a framework. The framework allows it to be nimble in a way that centralized economies (like China) can never match. My money's on the US out-competing everyone else in the long run.

Re: 2025 Letter

#46

Post by MontyCarloHall »

crubier wrote: post #43
scubbo wrote: post #27

A fascinating and eye-opening read. One of my intentions for this coming year is to critically examine and (if appropriate) alter or dispel some preconceptions I have. To that end, I'm curious about this part: > You don’t have to convince the elites or the populace that growth is good or that entrepreneurs could be celebrated. Meanwhile in Europe, perhaps 15 percent of the electorate actively believes in degrowth. I…

> Can someone elaborate on how growth is aligned with the general interest? Empirically, the past 200 years have seen high growth globally, and human well being has improved massively as a result. Life expectancy has skyrocketed, infant death, hunger have gone down to near zero, literacy has gone up, work is much more comfortable, interesting and rewarding, etc. But at a more fundamental level, our material quality o…

>But at a more fundamental level, our material quality of life is that of literal kings.

This cannot be overstated. To wit, a Honda Accord (or equivalent mid-range car of today) is objectively superior to a Rolls Royce from the 90s in terms of amenities, engine power/efficiency, quietness, build quality, safety, etc. The same is true for quality-of-life improvements across a vast swath of consumer goods, and therefore consumer lifestyles.

Without growth, it's unlikely we'd see those improvements manifest. Carefully consider the lifestyle of someone living several decades ago. Would you honestly want to live such a lifestyle yourself? That's where degrowth likely leads. As the article says, "I feel it’s impossible to convince Europeans to act in their self interest. You can’t even convince them to adopt air conditioning in the summer."

Re: 2025 Letter

#48

Post by mjmsmith »

dpark wrote: post #20
ossa-ma wrote: post #12

The beginning perfectly embodies the culture in Silicon Valley and touches on a crucial part that I notice when I visit: the complete lack of self expression or as I would put it ZERO drip. Remove the tech, what does SF contribute to the world wrt culture? Especially when compared to other metropolitan cities: NY, London, LA, Tokyo.

Maybe I’m missing some nuance but are you just saying that folks in Silicon Valley aren’t cool?

The only problem with Silicon Valley is they just have no taste.

Re: 2025 Letter

#49

Post by dzonga »

London has the house prices of California and the income levels of Mississippi.

the UK is seriously broken, I always reflect on the energy generation statistics of the UK per capita

while in the US you see automated car washes, in the uk most car washes are Albanians n other immigrants etc

Re: 2025 Letter

#50

Post by klysm »

dzonga wrote: post #49

London has the house prices of California and the income levels of Mississippi. the UK is seriously broken, I always reflect on the energy generation statistics of the UK per capita while in the US you see automated car washes, in the uk most car washes are Albanians n other immigrants etc

Income and wealth inequality! I don’t see a way out for the UK
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