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> "only way for totalitarianism to “work” is if the rulers are both much smarter than the population as a whole" The party can pick the smart people from popul

• siidooloo 8y ago
  That didn’t work for the USSR, why would it work for China? As long as some things are off limits / as long as people know they arn’t alowed to research this or that, then they’ll be at a long term disadvantage to those that do. China was here before. Cutting yourself off from the world just means you eventually find yourself having fallen behind everyone else.
  • kinsomo 8y ago
    > That didn’t work for the USSR, why would it work for China? The CCP does have the benefit of learning from the failures of the Soviets. > China was here before. Cutting yourself off from the world just means you eventually find yourself having fallen behind everyone else. That mainly happened because they were so dominant in their sphere that they didn't bother themselves with far off areas that seemed primitive to them. I'm pretty sure the CCP has learned from that mistake.
    • siidooloo 8y ago
      If they had learned from that mistake they wouldn’t be trying to wall the internet off.
      • kinsomo 8y ago
        > If they had learned from that mistake they wouldn’t be trying to wall the internet off. They're walling off foreign political ideas and avenues for domestic political organization, not foreign technological advancements. They are very explicit about that. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/20/world/asia/chinas-new-leadership-takes-hard-line-in-secret-memo.html https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/20/world/asia/chinas-new-lea...
• woodandsteel 8y ago
  But once the smart people are in, which person eventually winds up on top is determined by party politics.