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One of the short term advantages of an authoritarian state is that problems can be swept under the rug and hidden. In the longer term, it becomes far more diffi

by AJ007 10y ago

One of the short term advantages of an authoritarian state is that problems can be swept under the rug and hidden. In the longer term, it becomes far more difficult or perhaps even impossible to fix the real problem. I think one of the better explanations I have heard about the network effect (most recently explained by Reid Hoffman, although probably have heard it from others) is the big advantage occurs when a successful start up goes in to the scaling phase. Many people feel or say SF/SV sucks, its too expensive, I can do the same thing somewhere else, etc. and for almost everyone that is probably correct.

uola 10y ago
"One of the short term advantages of an authoritarian state is that problems can be swept under the rug and hidden." Is this in reference to China? Because in that case it's quite clearly false. There's cartoon level inequality in China. You literally see 19 year old guys in Ferraris, which they can barely drive, go past 55 year old ladies sorting trash on the sidewalk. The redeeming quality, except being hard to ignore, is that China is changing rapidly. Few knows what will happen, but it seems clear that it at least won't be the same. I feel people who go vacation in Thailand is far more hypocritical than someone who goes to work in China. But at the end of the day, it's about the people not the government.