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I grew up in China and came to the U.S. more than 10 years ago. What I have been seeing is the decline of the United States. That's said, I'm worrying about C

I grew up in China and came to the U.S. more than 10 years ago. What I have been seeing is the decline of the United States. That's said, I'm worrying about China a lot more. I think it's on track to repeat the mistakes it had done before. You often see articles here saying China will surpass the States in A.I. and science. I doubt it. I doubt a country without freely accessible information will be competent. I doubt true intellectuals would like to live in a place like this. soviet union was an example. I used to get angry at these things (censorships, corruptions). But now I'm tired, not because China is clearly drifting away from what I want it to be, but because I saw many fellow Chinese really believe in government propaganda, and justify its wrong doings. They have the Stockholm syndrome, decorating a nightmare into a beautiful dream (of China being the new world leader and all the censorship shit is necessary to fence off the invasion of western culture. such a bullshit!). And there are also many others who simply don't care. Now I just want to hide somewhere and mind my own things. Who will be replacing the States? Europe is weak and is at its bottom, Russia is no better than China. Maybe Australia or Canada.

beojan 9y ago
> Who will be replacing the States? Europe is weak and is at its bottom, Russia is no better than China. Maybe Australia or Canada. Their population is much too small. In the case of science, if anyone surpasses the US, it'll be Europe. However, the trend now is toward co-operation rather than competition.
klibertp 9y ago
> Europe is weak and is at its bottom Weak in what sense?
- Markoff 9y ago
  plus i think we already bottomed and now higher than that
guscost 9y ago
I'm cynical about a lot of things, like our dysfunctional mess of a government, a Fortune 500 saturated with exploitative bullshit, and the silly summer-camp that college has turned into. And people have been telling me about the decline of America for my whole life (admittedly not a long life). But I think they are just overwhelmed with worry because we have access to so much information, and I think America easily has another couple hundred years of prosperity ahead, even if it won't be smooth sailing the whole time.
- jjeaff 9y ago
  On almost any metric I can find, the US is getting better and better. The only decline the us is experiencing is a decline in growth "rates" which is predictable for any mature economy. Crime is lower, standard of living is higher, poverty is less... That's not to say the us doesn't have a lot of problems, but overall, it is objectively better than before.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
alexashka 9y ago
Maybe it's decline, or maybe it's just slowly taking off the rose colored glasses that younger people tend to wear :) There is no replacing the US anytime soon and if there is, all the problems you mentioned will persist. Why wouldn't they? When you're younger you think there's some villain comic book style, that you have to overcome. You know, a Hitler. Then the world's going to be different. It's not like that - the country is a reflection of it's citizens - narrow minded citizens, narrow minded governments. If you want to know where things are headed - just go watch some TV. Is it uplifting/informing or dumbing things down? That's the general direction we as a society are heading in. As for hiding somewhere and doing your own thing - that's what scientists and intelligent people do - find their niche that is ok according to society (allows them to make a comfortable living), and pursue their intellectual curiosity there.
jbhatab 9y ago
"Who will be replacing the States?" I don't understand why there needs to be a replacement? I feel as though the United States isn't declining but information is spreading equalizing the equation globally. Sure there are political issues that cause back and forth, but I feel we are moving more towards a global culture with aligned goals faster than ever before.
madshiva 9y ago
Europe, totally won't agree. We are maybe not so big than others, specially the little country that are not part of the Europe, but we surpass all the others country. U.S. can be better with time, but they will be weaker and weaker if they don't stop losing money. Don't forget that you owes me 19 188 102 400 000 $ even in 4000 years we still talk about the debt.

beojan 9y ago

> Who will be replacing the States? Europe is weak and is at its bottom, Russia is no better than China. Maybe Australia or Canada. Their population is much too small. In the case of science, if anyone surpasses the US, it'll be Europe. However, the trend now is toward co-operation rather than competition.

klibertp 9y ago

> Europe is weak and is at its bottom Weak in what sense?

Markoff 9y ago
plus i think we already bottomed and now higher than that

guscost 9y ago

I'm cynical about a lot of things, like our dysfunctional mess of a government, a Fortune 500 saturated with exploitative bullshit, and the silly summer-camp that college has turned into. And people have been telling me about the decline of America for my whole life (admittedly not a long life). But I think they are just overwhelmed with worry because we have access to so much information, and I think America easily has another couple hundred years of prosperity ahead, even if it won't be smooth sailing the whole time.

jjeaff 9y ago
On almost any metric I can find, the US is getting better and better. The only decline the us is experiencing is a decline in growth "rates" which is predictable for any mature economy. Crime is lower, standard of living is higher, poverty is less... That's not to say the us doesn't have a lot of problems, but overall, it is objectively better than before.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]

alexashka 9y ago

Maybe it's decline, or maybe it's just slowly taking off the rose colored glasses that younger people tend to wear :) There is no replacing the US anytime soon and if there is, all the problems you mentioned will persist. Why wouldn't they? When you're younger you think there's some villain comic book style, that you have to overcome. You know, a Hitler. Then the world's going to be different. It's not like that - the country is a reflection of it's citizens - narrow minded citizens, narrow minded governments. If you want to know where things are headed - just go watch some TV. Is it uplifting/informing or dumbing things down? That's the general direction we as a society are heading in. As for hiding somewhere and doing your own thing - that's what scientists and intelligent people do - find their niche that is ok according to society (allows them to make a comfortable living), and pursue their intellectual curiosity there.

jbhatab 9y ago

"Who will be replacing the States?" I don't understand why there needs to be a replacement? I feel as though the United States isn't declining but information is spreading equalizing the equation globally. Sure there are political issues that cause back and forth, but I feel we are moving more towards a global culture with aligned goals faster than ever before.

madshiva 9y ago

Europe, totally won't agree. We are maybe not so big than others, specially the little country that are not part of the Europe, but we surpass all the others country. U.S. can be better with time, but they will be weaker and weaker if they don't stop losing money. Don't forget that you owes me 19 188 102 400 000 $ even in 4000 years we still talk about the debt.