5 ms·
Why should you care about net benefit when you're dealing with a geopolitical rival? Sports teams aren't happy when scored on because the total score went up.
by hnaccy 7y ago
Why should you care about net benefit when you're dealing with a geopolitical rival?
Sports teams aren't happy when scored on because the total score went up.
- yourbandsucks 7y agoMaybe sports teams are a horrible way to think about it.
- deogeo 7y agoSports teams is putting things lightly. It's a bad idea to let your industries fail, while your rival's grow at your expense. You can already see what happens to those over whom China gains influence - economic power is a large part of that.
- yourbandsucks 7y agoIf a Chinese family goes from a 3rd-world life to a modern one, is that a relative loss for America? In sports, it would be. Yes, we should be firm about our interests. No, we shouldn't be obsessed with some 'score' -- or if we are, maybe channel it towards fixing our own house.
- deogeo 7y agoAnd if a Chinese airplane manufacturer out-competes a US one, causing it to fail, its workers go unemployed, weakening the US economy, and making it more dependent on China? How long does an average company last, if it gives away all its IP and know-how? Why should the result differ on the scale of countries? I assumed these dynamics are obvious to everyone.
- yourbandsucks 7y agoA wise company with secret sauce wouldn't give it away. If our corporate culture is pathologically short-term-obsessed, that's on us. It's not on the 'bad guys' who lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty.
- deogeo 7y agoBeing the victim of espionage isn't 'giving it away' - but I see you're being deliberately obtuse.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- nicoburns 7y ago> And if a Chinese airplane manufacturer out-competes a US one, causing it to fail, its workers go unemployed, weakening the US economy, and making it more dependent on China? This won't happen, because despite the US's public insistence that free markets should be enforced everywhere, it is in fact quite protectionist over several of its industries, aerospace being one of them.
- kwizzt 7y agoMaybe bad if you look from the perspective of a single team. However, if the overall techniques and qualities of sports teams went up, it can lead to more interesting matches and innovation.
- trevyn 7y agoI think I’ll decline the “more interesting” arms race, though.