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Also in US https://www.theverge.com/2012/9/24/3381238/microsoft-power-waste-quincy https://www.theverge.com/2012/9/24/3381238/microsoft-power-w...

by MikusR 7y ago

adventured 7y ago
Not also in the US. They're entirely different situations with entirely different goals by the people doing it. Microsoft was trying to avoid a penalty for itself, one company. The businesses in China (not all obviously) are conspiring with the bureaucracy to fake economic activity on a massive scale, to put on a veneer for the outside world. This is about appearances to the world, because China is very scared right now.
- knzhou 7y ago
  How about you stop with the nationalism? People in China are actual human beings, not part of a hive mind. They react to individual incentives.
  - kortilla 7y ago
    Yep, they are human beings forced by the government to hide the truth under the guise of “harmony” with the threat of much worse. Also, you can criticize the Chinese government without having any issues with Chinese people. Learn the difference or life is going to be hard.
    - knzhou 7y ago
      You're literally just agreeing with me, but in a condescending tone. My point is that not literally every Chinese person is "conspiring" to "fake" a "veneer" because they're "scared", because people != government. It's GP who needs to learn the difference.
      - kortilla 7y ago
        If they work with the government to participate in this data taking scheme, they are conspiring to fake a veneer. They just have no choice.
- wcarss 7y ago
  I think the thrust of the comment above was that this is not a class of behavior restricted to China or to communist states. Microsoft was secretly wasting electricity to avoid fines -- gaming an economic system designed to encourage efficiency under bureaucrat-designed rules that make sense within market capitalism, and Chinese companies are secretly wasting electricity to avoid a loss in confidence, ie. business, under the direction of bureaucrats -- gaming a larger economic system designed for efficiency, but here specifically for efficiency of labor to product spend, versus efficiency of product sale. Curiously, the need to maintain this appearance of productivity is only likely for the sake of capitalist clients who buy the services -- c.f. the classic entrepreneurial slogan, "fake it till you make it!" Some people are saying in response to this, "only under communism", and in the specifics of who and how and why they may be correct, but waste to satisfy bureaucratic systems is not unique to any economic or social system. People are going to juke the stats under every regime, at all scales, under all circumstances.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]

Also in US https://www.theverge.com/2012/9/24/3381238/microsoft-power-waste-quincy https://www.theverge.com/2012/9/24/3381238/microsoft-power-w...

by MikusR 7y ago

Also in US https://www.theverge.com/2012/9/24/3381238/microsoft-power-waste-quincy https://www.theverge.com/2012/9/24/3381238/microsoft-power-w...

adventured 7y ago

Not also in the US. They're entirely different situations with entirely different goals by the people doing it. Microsoft was trying to avoid a penalty for itself, one company. The businesses in China (not all obviously) are conspiring with the bureaucracy to fake economic activity on a massive scale, to put on a veneer for the outside world. This is about appearances to the world, because China is very scared right now.

knzhou 7y ago
How about you stop with the nationalism? People in China are actual human beings, not part of a hive mind. They react to individual incentives.
- kortilla 7y ago
  Yep, they are human beings forced by the government to hide the truth under the guise of “harmony” with the threat of much worse. Also, you can criticize the Chinese government without having any issues with Chinese people. Learn the difference or life is going to be hard.
  - knzhou 7y ago
    You're literally just agreeing with me, but in a condescending tone. My point is that not literally every Chinese person is "conspiring" to "fake" a "veneer" because they're "scared", because people != government. It's GP who needs to learn the difference.
    - kortilla 7y ago
      If they work with the government to participate in this data taking scheme, they are conspiring to fake a veneer. They just have no choice.
wcarss 7y ago
I think the thrust of the comment above was that this is not a class of behavior restricted to China or to communist states. Microsoft was secretly wasting electricity to avoid fines -- gaming an economic system designed to encourage efficiency under bureaucrat-designed rules that make sense within market capitalism, and Chinese companies are secretly wasting electricity to avoid a loss in confidence, ie. business, under the direction of bureaucrats -- gaming a larger economic system designed for efficiency, but here specifically for efficiency of labor to product spend, versus efficiency of product sale. Curiously, the need to maintain this appearance of productivity is only likely for the sake of capitalist clients who buy the services -- c.f. the classic entrepreneurial slogan, "fake it till you make it!" Some people are saying in response to this, "only under communism", and in the specifics of who and how and why they may be correct, but waste to satisfy bureaucratic systems is not unique to any economic or social system. People are going to juke the stats under every regime, at all scales, under all circumstances.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]