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It's definitely possible to perceive Europe as moving a little slower in terms of technology adoption; it's also possible to argue that that's not a bad thing.
by jka 7y ago
It's definitely possible to perceive Europe as moving a little slower in terms of technology adoption; it's also possible to argue that that's not a bad thing.
A common narrative in western news is that surveillance in China is developing too quickly and that social credit and other systems are being introduced rapidly, introducing societal risk.
It's possible that's true - and that the U.S. and sillicon valley in particular - while good at developing technology rapidly - are actually on a similar risk trajectory. Within the tech news bubble it's all communicated very differently, of course - it's about innovation, improving lives, and changing the world by disrupting old industries. But perhaps the systems that are being implemented are, in fact, similar.
And to look at the situation from another angle: despite all of these advances in technology, how much has life really changed? We all still have family, friends, education, work, accommodation, food sources and requirements.. there is "nothing new under the sun".
There's a lot to be said for taking some pause and seeing how technology develops, and after careful consideration, selecting the options which lead to clear improvements, while avoiding the options which seem to introduce large negative impacts for individuals and society.
- stared 7y agoWell, it is common that it takes years to get services and products that are available in the US. For example, to get a sensor to measure my ECG I needed to: - use US credit card in an app store, - ask a third party to resend me a device. I am not aware of many innovative products or services that are first available in the EU, and it takes more than a year to appear in the USA (examples are welcome). I do not say that the EU is bad, as there are quite a few things in which it is progressive (human rights, environment). > despite all of these advances in technology, how much has life really changed? For some, a lot. If it weren't for the internet, most likely I would end up living very lonely and miserable. (Well, it give me a window to discover people having different religion than my family and neighbors, to discover that I am not the only weirdo, but there are much more neurodivergent people, etc). Each single things progress is not a life changer. Collectively, they change the way we live. Yes, I am aware that one should weight the pros and cons. Just, IMHO, in Europe it is tilted to "way too conservative" (in its original meaning, "preserving"), with the approach more of a government plan (acting in years or decades) than hackathon/startup, where it is an order of magnitude faster. I am the most afraid of slowing the progress of medicine, which do require data.
- jeltz 7y ago> I am not aware of many innovative products or services that are first available in the EU, and it takes more than a year to appear in the USA (examples are welcome). Do you have anything like Klarna yet? They let ordinary people buy stuff online on invoice and handle the risk for the merchants. This makes buying stuff online very convenient. It is a Swedish company which has been active in Europe for almost 15 years. Spotify, while not as innovative, also took many years before they entered the US market. It is pretty normal for Swedish tech companies to focus on the EU market first before entering the US market many years later.