Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ownership disputes exist in many places across the world. But making an island appear larger than it is, is a unique demand that reminds me of Indiana trying to pass a law that declared the value of pi to be equal to 3.
> Indiana trying to pass a law that declared the value of pi to be equal to 3. Interesting. Was that really true? Why did they need to change the value?
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
#512Tim Crook
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016
#513Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016
#514I thought the HackerNews crowd could do better than "Google/Apple/X is offering something censored / is complying with local laws / local government requests in China/Russia/X so it must be bad and they must stop". Don't be so naive. 1. In order for US/international companies to survive in China/Russia/heavily censored countries or regions, they have to comply to local laws. Otherwise they are blocked or shutdown com…
> they have to comply to local laws. Otherwise they are blocked or shutdown completely. I'm for the "we're for human rights above profits even if it means we don't do business at all in your totalitarian country" camp. > or would you want them to be like North Korea where nobody outside can get in? How many people are actually trying to or even want to get into NK? How many would like to leave?
Please read my comment above for the reasons why "we don't do business at all in your totalitarian country" actually doesn't achieve your ideal "human rights above profits" goal.
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016
#515Earlier quoted context omitted.
1 in 3 people resident in Australia is an immigrant. I don't think Australia is losing the immigration game, all things considered.
The problem is, it's not a numbers game: quality matters a lot. Importing massive amounts of unskilled labor only depresses wages and, combined with NIMBY, creates a massive housing bubble thanks to artificial shortages. In Australia's case, it also suffers from a disproportionate brain drain of highly educated professionals since local firms simply won't compete for talent.
I hope you're not suggesting that Australia is getting low-quality immigrants. Unlike the US, Australia has a points-based immigration system where you have to meet specific, standardized criteria, which IMO is more objective than the US process. I don't know what guidance State Department staffers follow when determining who gets a visa, but the process is more opaque, and I suspect more subjective.
edit: I think the "quality" argument is overrated. Not all immigrants do ground-breaking research or start billion-dollar companies. When it comes to economic activity, quantity has a quality of its own (apologies to J. Stalin). A city/state/country with the economic activity of an extra 20% population of mediocre, healthy, tax-paying, car-buying, mortgage-paying, burger-eating blue and white-collar immigrants is better off than one without.
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016
#516Earlier 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.
That is a good question about why there is more emphasis on companies doing political advocacy rather than one's own government. It seems too weighted in companies doing the heavy lifting when this is likely to interfere with business objectives. Local investment requests however aren't novel - India have made similar requests which Apple have also fulfilled. China is only notable here because they have consistent hu…
> That is a good question about why there is more emphasis on companies doing political advocacy rather than one's own government.
Great point. Some movements are so anxious to minimize (or undermine) goverment that people get carried away, and forget all the things democracies can do and have done. We simply have to decide to do things as a people. China, for sure, is happy to see us divided.
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016
#517Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know a fair number of Americans who are over 50 years old, and appear fairly intelligent - but who, a while after each election, seem actually surprised and offended that the recently-elected politicians are not energetically living up to their campaign promises of squeaky-clean ethics, plentiful jobs, open & responsible government, etc. Do corporations have so much better a record of living up to feel-good marketi…
WHAT?? I'm over 50, and after 30+ years of voting and paying attention, have realized that politicians are by and large the lowest, sleaziest, most power-hungry and amoral creatures that can still perhaps be called human. I don't believe a word they say, and think that legislatures should be in session 90 days a year to figure things out and generally get their shit done, and the rest of the time they should have to…
> politicians are by and large the lowest, sleaziest, most power-hungry and amoral creatures that can still perhaps be called human
Just like you and me, then, and the rest of humanity. But we also have good in us, don't we?
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016
#518the top comments talking about maps, it's absolutely insane 'The agreement included a pledge from Apple to help Chinese manufacturers develop "the most advanced manufacturing technologies," "support the training of high-quality Chinese talents," use more components from Chinese suppliers, sign deals with Chinese software firms, collaborate with research in Chinese universities, and directly invest in Chinese tech com…
> It aches my heart to be a young man in this country and see this be our so-called 'leaders'. I'm confident the tides have already turned against all this nonsense, though, and I look forward to rebuilding industries of the world with good-hearted men & women I just got finished reading a book about the pre-war climate of 1930s Europe and man this comment sounds scary and nationalist. I’m worried that so many people…
> When deals like this are made, it makes it less likely China will do things to piss off the US, and vice-versa. The last thing we need are more tensions.
Eh, no. That's sounds like a version of the "Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lexus_and_the_Olive_Tree#G...), and it's bunk. China's leaders are nationalists, and it's likely they're looking to strengthen themselves to the point where they can do what they want without caring if the US is pissed off or not, and their actual behavior supports this view. They've actually shown themselves to be quite adept at exploiting sentiments like yours while they play a different game.
> Do you really want to hold people in other countries back from ever achieving the standards of living that you enjoy?
It's not that simple, obviously. Do you want knock people in your own country down (and have them stay down) so that can happen? We're not just talking about standards of living, either. How do you feel about assisting the ascent of an ideologically-incompatible competitor regime (https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/20/world/asia/chinas-new-lea...)?
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016
#519Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why do we see some of these behaviors within China maps, outside China? > .. the obfuscated coordinate system for geo-aligning maps .. https://goo.gl/maps/Qr2QRB7aB2jrg9Rk7 Roads are not aligned to the satellite imagery for example.
The same exists elsewhere, in South Korea that I know of. Bridges and dams disappear or move on maps, Google Maps doesn't have high res sat pictures, etc. Just to say, it's not great IMO but not only totalitarian states have a need for such obfuscation; healthy democracies too.
"healthy democracies" lol
Re: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016
#520Earlier 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.
Google withdrew from the Chinese market for multiple reasons, but one influential one was the state sponsored penetration of Google ops in China.
To be clear, Google still offers multiple products (including their primary one, Ads) in the Chinese market and has several offices there.