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Flying machines of Chinese farmers
- mike_h 10y agoNo mention of how they share what they learn with each other. I know the main bottleneck here is material / financial, but I get the impression there's also an information bottleneck. Getting them networked might dim the romance a little, but it also might mitigate the tragedy.
- m-i-l 10y agoThe article mentions at least one of them can't read or write. Would be an interesting challenge to build a knowledge sharing platform in that case.
- shalmanese 10y agoWechat built its initial traction by having voice memos as a first class interface element in its app. There are entire communities of illiterate Chinese communicating using purely voice memos/stickers.
- PakG1 10y agoYes, but are voice memos indexable and searchable? Maybe they can be, but don't know what enterprising startup would find it profitable to create the machine learning algorithms necessary to do this successfully. As a well-funded nonprofit, maybe. Because of illiteracy, your metadata would also need to be a significant amount of audio, at least for the illiterate humans.
- joshuaheard 10y agoAlexa, search for airplane propeller.
- PakG1 10y agoTouche.....
- strgrd 10y agoThe cancer of Web 2.0 summed up in one proposition
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- happy-go-lucky 10y ago> Getting them networked might dim the romance a little, but it also might mitigate the tragedy. True, it would result in a mixed experience.
- Yizahi 10y agoThis reminds me about "Astronaut Farmer" movie.
- tragomaskhalos 10y ago> 'aeronauts', literally meaning 'being born into air'. <pedant>Incorrect. The suffix -naut is from Greek naute^s, meaning sailor. Of course it may be that the Chinese phrase used does mean "being born into air", but then the article should say that</pedant>
- Shivetya 10y agoGuess it goes to show when given more and more freedom and property rights inspiration takes off. going to assume it is only semi legal to fly such things in China or perhaps the rules have not caught up with the hobbyist?
- LyndsySimon 10y agoThe article mentions it being illegal, but it's interesting to note that many of the aircraft pictured would be legal in the US without certification as "ultralights." The cutoff is 254 pounds.
- phkahler 10y agoDoes EAA have much presence in China? These guys should be members.
- joshwa 10y agoThere is basically no general aviation in China-- the airspace is controlled via the military and the regulations are extreme (flight plans require 2 days notice!). However as of last year they are loosening these restrictions and plan to establish a larger GA industry: http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/general-aviation/2016-05-25/china-embraces-general-aviation http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/general-aviation/2016...
- JoeAltmaier 10y agoAny pictures? The story is about a photographer after all. And the machines have got to be amazing steampunk-inspired marvels. I'd really have preferred a pictorial essay.
- officelineback 10y agoThere are pictures embedded in the article.
- JoeAltmaier 10y agoOh! The first time, there were none. Now I revisit and see them. Strange.
- dash2 10y agoAnother nail in the coffin of the thesis that Chinese people can never innovate.