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How can China become zeroth world shortly when half of the country is still living in third world conditions? I suppose if you only consider how the wealthiest

How can China become zeroth world shortly when half of the country is still living in third world conditions? I suppose if you only consider how the wealthiest in Shanghai and other Tier 1 cities live their lives then yes China is approaching parity with the West but that ignores that America's per capita income is almost 5 times higher than China's. China also has the nasty problem of many of its best and brightest wanting to come to America and the West where they will have political freedom and more broadly freedom of expression, something that cannot be bought in China no matter how wealthy one becomes.

ZhuanXia 7y ago
I have seen the progress in China since the late 1990s. A rate of change impossible for a modern westerner to believe. China is not a photograph but a video on fast-forward.
- leetcrew 7y ago
  people were saying this about the USSR in the 1930s (see beyond the urals by john scott). it's always faster to catch up than to break new ground. their rate of progress will slow dramatically as they approach the state of the art.
  - Der_Einzige 7y ago
    Not with over 1 billion people and the western world on its knees. If anything, their going to progress far faster than anyone else once this is over.
    - leetcrew 7y ago
      maybe, maybe not. it's impossible to say. developing new stuff is a very different game from catching up, especially when you get to manufacture mid-tech stuff for the west and take a loose interpretation of intellectual property. as a state, china currently seems much more able to direct its resources towards worthwhile endeavors than the US, but afaik they are still pretty far behind when it comes to cutting-edge stuff. the new j-20 fighter isn't a match for the f-22, let alone the f-35. they can't touch the level of US silicon fabs without annexing taiwan. I've read some convincing arguments that it may have an edge in cyberespionage/warfare, but it's always hard to judge those capabilities.
mnm1 7y ago
The same way the US is considered first world with half of its population living in poverty, a third or more without proper healthcare, almost one percent in prison, etc.

ZhuanXia 7y ago

I have seen the progress in China since the late 1990s. A rate of change impossible for a modern westerner to believe. China is not a photograph but a video on fast-forward.

leetcrew 7y ago
people were saying this about the USSR in the 1930s (see beyond the urals by john scott). it's always faster to catch up than to break new ground. their rate of progress will slow dramatically as they approach the state of the art.
- Der_Einzige 7y ago
  Not with over 1 billion people and the western world on its knees. If anything, their going to progress far faster than anyone else once this is over.
  - leetcrew 7y ago
    maybe, maybe not. it's impossible to say. developing new stuff is a very different game from catching up, especially when you get to manufacture mid-tech stuff for the west and take a loose interpretation of intellectual property. as a state, china currently seems much more able to direct its resources towards worthwhile endeavors than the US, but afaik they are still pretty far behind when it comes to cutting-edge stuff. the new j-20 fighter isn't a match for the f-22, let alone the f-35. they can't touch the level of US silicon fabs without annexing taiwan. I've read some convincing arguments that it may have an edge in cyberespionage/warfare, but it's always hard to judge those capabilities.

mnm1 7y ago

The same way the US is considered first world with half of its population living in poverty, a third or more without proper healthcare, almost one percent in prison, etc.