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Yeah, we GOT that China. Dab. But seriously though. Why does the news media seem to always feel the need to push this narrative of nations being in competition
by davesque 8y ago
Yeah, we GOT that China. Dab.
But seriously though. Why does the news media seem to always feel the need to push this narrative of nations being in competition with each other? It seems so 20th century.
- xenihn 8y agoWhat's wrong with competition?
- hello_1234 8y agoCompetition is great but when the narrative starts leaning towards "Us vs Them" and "We are at war" and countries start actively sabotaging each other, then we have a problem.
- davidmr 8y agoThis competition has been going on quite a while. Is there any evidence it has led to any of that?
- kolpa 8y agoWith China? Maybe not sabotage, but IP theft and espionage. With Russia? Certainly.
- davidmr 8y agoPeople steal technology because someone else’s is better and it’s cheaper than doing the R&D yourself. If the US just quietly made better computers and there was no ranking, I’m certain China and Russia would still be stealing IP.
- jjoonathan 8y agoIf anything in this situation can be said to be "so 20th century," it's the notion that the bonds of trade and friendship transcend conflicts of interest, competition, and (god forbid) war. Early 20th century, I might add.
- davesque 8y agoWe're really building the world we want to live in here aren't we?
- bepotts 8y agoMedia needs their narratives and to keep readers emotional. It's how they get people coming back. This is one of the reasons why they're losing so much trust.
- davidmr 8y agoThe labs and supercomputer manufacturers also need this narrative to get continued funding from Congress. I spent many years in DOE supercomputing labs, and there was a heavy emphasis on competition whenever you wanted to knock loose a few hundred million dollars to buy a new computer.
- enraged_camel 8y ago>>This is one of the reasons why they're losing so much trust. Sorry, but this is the actual bullshit narrative. Most media outlets, especially ones that Trump loves to rail against, are reporting record profits. That, to me, shows that people trust them more than ever.
- pathseeker 8y agoTrust has nothing to do with soap operas.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- tntn 8y agoLike it or not, it is quite a bit of a competition.
- foobaw 8y agoThe narrative sucks but nations being competitive with each other is a pretty powerful driving force for people. I'm not sure about the U.S., but from my personal experience working in a multi-national industry, and also being East Asian myself, patriotism is a huge motivational factor, especially when it comes to beating "rival" countries. (Prime example: Korea vs Japan).
- davesque 8y agoYeah but it seems so artificial tho. What about doing things just for the sake of doing them and because they're intrinsically cool and interesting? All the nationalistic stuff is just made up and we've gotta let go of it eventually. Why not now?
- Apocryphon 8y agoGiven the current state of politics everywhere, right now might be the least possible time for the decline of nationalism.
- JumpCrisscross 8y ago> What about doing things just for the sake of doing them and because they're intrinsically cool and interesting? This is how you get your budget cut. Competition forces tough decisions and turns long-term strategic aims into near-term threats.
- baby 8y agoI’m pretty sure that if nations wouldn’t compete we would be at peace and we would put all that useless military money into much more useful things. So no, I think this is not a powerful drive.
- beauzero 8y ago...it got us to the moon. When war is avoided, competition can be a powerful incentive.
- kolpa 8y agoBecause the governments of these countries are in competition when planning their tech projecst.
- angel_j 8y agoBecause it wouldn't be "news" otherwise?
- gojomo 8y agoRemember the Maine!
- Old_Thrashbarg 8y agoCompetition around benign science and technology, or say, sporting events is fine IMO. Competition around destructive or hateful things is bad. I'm OK with another space race, but not another nuclear arms race.
- dragonwriter 8y ago> I'm OK with another space race, but not another nuclear arms race. The space race was basically a PR veneer over part of the nuclear arms race.