5 ms·

Instead of endlessly rehashing Blade Runner and ripping off Neuromancer, it would be nice to see film and TV execs produce something about the what the future w

by Lio 6y ago

Instead of endlessly rehashing Blade Runner and ripping off Neuromancer, it would be nice to see film and TV execs produce something about the what the future world will look like when it’s dominated by the Chinese Communist Party. They won’t though because the Chinese Communist Party is fucking scary and doesn’t take to being commented on. All those little plastic widgets and cheap clothes we import are paying for this navy.

luckylion 6y ago
Don't we have that already? Star Wars has always been the story of authoritarian governments, hasn't it? A lot of the aesthetics looked like they are meant to portray the Nazis, but the empire lacks (to my knowledge, I'm not really into it) the "we must exterminate the undesirables" part and feels much closer like an authoritarian power that branches out and suppresses dissent, classical empire stuff, but without the crazy. That sounds about right for the CCP.
- OpossumMinister 6y ago
  A science-fantasy story like Star Wars is about as far away from speculative scifi like Neuromancer and Blade Runner as you can get.
- Lio 6y ago
  Star Wars is fantasy. It lacks the bite of hard speculative fiction. To quote William Gibson “the future is already here it’s just not well diffused yet”. So what will our world really look like if we extrapolate from now? I’ll bet it’s less neon and flying cars and more boarded up retail shops and government sponsored troll farms. The CCP isn’t building this navy for fun. Does anything China’s done recently make you think they lack ambition? Just look at the extent of their fishing operations. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/27/chinese-fishing-vessels-galapagos-islands https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/27/chinese-...
  - luckylion 6y ago
    > I’ll bet it’s less neon and flying cars and more boarded up retail shops and government sponsored troll farms. No technological advancement? Has the CCP indicated that they'd prefer a stand still on that front? I'm sure the future will be different as is expected when a large power claims its place. Whether the losses will be in the West or primarily in the Third World will be a major question. So far, the Chinese seem not too much into large scale empire building, but primarily exercising control over "their backyard", similar to Russia in Ukraine etc and the US in Latin America. But that might change, of course, if they ever become the most powerful nation with a similar margin over the rest as the US has enjoyed for the last decades.
chrisco255 6y ago
They won't because they love money and they generate significant revenue in that market. Same reason nobody is calling China out for imprisoning a million Muslims in a concentration camp.
- stann 6y ago
  China is NOT 'imprisoning a million Muslims in a concentration camp'. Dig a little deeper. Hyperbole does not help anybody.
  - onetimemanytime 6y ago
    You are right, they re-educating them: Removing the impure things they learned or were born with, and instilling the Party ideals in them.
  - threeseed 6y ago
    You are correct in that they have not imprisoned a million Uyghur muslims. But it is cultural genocide with widespread, systemic rape, torture and murder. Also it is questionable about whether they are free to leave the Xinjiang area.
    - DarthGhandi 6y ago
      > genocide That's a big word do you have any proof other than military thinktanks rehashing the same old nonsense? What's a good estimate on how many have been tortured, raped and murdered? (To use your words) When the US still has more people in prison predominantly of one race (not per capita either, gross numbers) it's perhaps a good time to talk about the systemic imprisonment of black people that no one seems to flinch about. For all the talk of Uyghurs literally no Western country is taking them in, do you see the UK or US lining up to take in a million Muslim separatists? It's yellow peril all over again. Why is the UN human rights commissioner repeatedly refusing to visit the region despite getting numerous requests? Why are Muslim Western allies visiting and finding nothing extreme that matches the constant media bombardment we receive in the West? Our Western aligned Muslim allies are literally signing multicountry letters to the UNHRC saying that it's all a media beatup and yet no one here really wants to talk about that. Are we really going to base all this on evidence from the people that insisted Saddam had weapons of Mass Destruction and that justified a 20 year war that resulted in millions of deaths mostly civilian? Do you honestly trust them this time aroundor is it _different_ this time? https://medium.com/@jerry_grey2002/abc-four-corners-tell-the-world-analysis-1529e8aaf316 https://medium.com/@jerry_grey2002/abc-four-corners-tell-the... Here's a solid read from an Australian policeman who cycled through Xinjiang province, nothing he sees lines up with the rhetoric you'll find from internet commentators who have never been to China.
dwd 6y ago
Do we need a modern version of 1984? WestWorld (season 3) comes to mind but doesn't have the communist structure; but any future dystopia would likely see the party replaced by algorithms leaving just the inner circle and the proles.
p2t2p 6y ago
There's. It's called Firefly
seer 6y ago
The venerable “Firefly” series explored this a bit way back in 2002. The idea was that since china is _the_ superpower even the lowliest scum would know a curse word or two in chinese. Was quite an interesting concept back then.
- Lio 6y ago
  It’s an interesting programme but I don’t really think life in the next 100 years will resemble Firefly. It’s probably closer to the truth to imagine a world with no Western intellectual property or manufacturing. That will mean “interesting” changes. For example, what would it mean if most western pharmaceutical companies fail and access to cutting edge medicine was only available through China? What power would that give the CCP and what would they do with that considering their current ambition? Look at their expanding South American fishing fleet and naval action in the South China Sea for clues.
Animats 6y ago
China's plans aren't a big secret. There's Made In China 2025.[1] The 14th Five Year Plan is being drafted now. Unlike the USSR, China was reasonably successful in meeting the goals of the 13 Five Year Plans so far, with the notable exception of the Great Leap Forward fiasco of the 1960s. The Made In China 2025 plan focuses on pharmaceutical, automotive, aerospace, semiconductor, IT and robotics manufacturing. The goal is to have a state of the art position in all those fields by 2025. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_China_2025 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_China_2025
- Lio 6y ago
  That’s my point. It’s not secret but Netflix and Amazon aren’t exactly rushing to layout what the future will look like when the Chinese achieve these goals.
- ArkVark 6y ago
  China also has a higher average IQ than much of the rest of the world: 104, vs 98 for the USA: https://www.worlddata.info/iq-by-country.php https://www.worlddata.info/iq-by-country.php China is also pursuing eugenic strategies with the one-child policy, and controlled migration into cities (which encourages assortative mating). The Fertility Rate of 1.6 is reasonable. By contrast many Western countries are pursuing dysgenic strategies through the provision of mass-welfare, and the intake of migrants from lower-IQ countries. China just needs to sit back for 30-50 years and wait for these trends to play out, if it has the patience. We're already seeing the first reports of IQ declines: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/iq-rates-are-dropping-many-developed-countries-doesn-t-bode-ncna1008576 https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/iq-rates-are-dropping-...
  - CraigJPerry 6y ago
    This seems more like a dumb conspiracy, the kind of pseudoscience BS you’d feed to QANON’s. Let’s go through it piece by piece: 1. Doesn’t define how IQ was measured in each country 2. Doesn’t state when for each country 3. Doesn’t define how the average was calculated 4. Doesn’t provide any data on rate of change of IQ - this is important, for those not aware IQ tests are reframed every few years to keep most people on the 85-115 range. The revision trend is always upwards so far - it’s arguable that we’re getting smarter because of flaws in IQ as a concept but we’re certainly becoming more capable in the modern world which is not controversial Enough about IQ we could bang on more about statistical significance and anything between 85 - 115 is average but lets move on to the real meat to be refuted. 6. China’s one-child policy formally ended 5 years ago after many years of gradual reductions in restrictions 7. China is actively trying to walk back the damage of its 1 child policies and is incentivising married couples to have more than 1 child (and somewhat confusingly, has actually been doing this since before the end of the 1 child policy) Now the real BS part 8. No country anywhere is pursuing dysgenic strategy 9. Welfare - help given to people who need it. I am intrigued what you actually mean here, are you suggesting we should let people die who can Otherwise be saved by provision of assistance? 10. Intake of migrants from “lower iq” countries - are these doctors and engineers on Visas or asylum seekers and refugees from areas rendered uninhabitable by war, climate or lawlessness?
jayd16 6y ago
People write about what they know so I don't really expect US media to really come up with something like that. That said, maybe we're due for an Escape from Honk Kong.
lenkite 6y ago
China is well on its way to being a super-power and will likely be the sole global superpower by 2040, fully capable of enforcing their will and policies on all nations of the world. They have already successfully infiltrated most international and political organisations as well as the international press to ensure there is no consensual united stand taken against them. They can successfully carry out mass sterilisation and genocide campaigns with little or no blow-back from anyone. What amazes me is how few recognise the extraordinary threat they pose to the world today.

by Lio 6y ago

luckylion 6y ago

Don't we have that already? Star Wars has always been the story of authoritarian governments, hasn't it? A lot of the aesthetics looked like they are meant to portray the Nazis, but the empire lacks (to my knowledge, I'm not really into it) the "we must exterminate the undesirables" part and feels much closer like an authoritarian power that branches out and suppresses dissent, classical empire stuff, but without the crazy. That sounds about right for the CCP.

OpossumMinister 6y ago
A science-fantasy story like Star Wars is about as far away from speculative scifi like Neuromancer and Blade Runner as you can get.
Lio 6y ago
Star Wars is fantasy. It lacks the bite of hard speculative fiction. To quote William Gibson “the future is already here it’s just not well diffused yet”. So what will our world really look like if we extrapolate from now? I’ll bet it’s less neon and flying cars and more boarded up retail shops and government sponsored troll farms. The CCP isn’t building this navy for fun. Does anything China’s done recently make you think they lack ambition? Just look at the extent of their fishing operations. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/27/chinese-fishing-vessels-galapagos-islands https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/27/chinese-...
- luckylion 6y ago
  > I’ll bet it’s less neon and flying cars and more boarded up retail shops and government sponsored troll farms. No technological advancement? Has the CCP indicated that they'd prefer a stand still on that front? I'm sure the future will be different as is expected when a large power claims its place. Whether the losses will be in the West or primarily in the Third World will be a major question. So far, the Chinese seem not too much into large scale empire building, but primarily exercising control over "their backyard", similar to Russia in Ukraine etc and the US in Latin America. But that might change, of course, if they ever become the most powerful nation with a similar margin over the rest as the US has enjoyed for the last decades.

chrisco255 6y ago

They won't because they love money and they generate significant revenue in that market. Same reason nobody is calling China out for imprisoning a million Muslims in a concentration camp.

stann 6y ago
China is NOT 'imprisoning a million Muslims in a concentration camp'. Dig a little deeper. Hyperbole does not help anybody.
- onetimemanytime 6y ago
  You are right, they re-educating them: Removing the impure things they learned or were born with, and instilling the Party ideals in them.
- threeseed 6y ago
  You are correct in that they have not imprisoned a million Uyghur muslims. But it is cultural genocide with widespread, systemic rape, torture and murder. Also it is questionable about whether they are free to leave the Xinjiang area.
  - DarthGhandi 6y ago
    > genocide That's a big word do you have any proof other than military thinktanks rehashing the same old nonsense? What's a good estimate on how many have been tortured, raped and murdered? (To use your words) When the US still has more people in prison predominantly of one race (not per capita either, gross numbers) it's perhaps a good time to talk about the systemic imprisonment of black people that no one seems to flinch about. For all the talk of Uyghurs literally no Western country is taking them in, do you see the UK or US lining up to take in a million Muslim separatists? It's yellow peril all over again. Why is the UN human rights commissioner repeatedly refusing to visit the region despite getting numerous requests? Why are Muslim Western allies visiting and finding nothing extreme that matches the constant media bombardment we receive in the West? Our Western aligned Muslim allies are literally signing multicountry letters to the UNHRC saying that it's all a media beatup and yet no one here really wants to talk about that. Are we really going to base all this on evidence from the people that insisted Saddam had weapons of Mass Destruction and that justified a 20 year war that resulted in millions of deaths mostly civilian? Do you honestly trust them this time aroundor is it _different_ this time? https://medium.com/@jerry_grey2002/abc-four-corners-tell-the-world-analysis-1529e8aaf316 https://medium.com/@jerry_grey2002/abc-four-corners-tell-the... Here's a solid read from an Australian policeman who cycled through Xinjiang province, nothing he sees lines up with the rhetoric you'll find from internet commentators who have never been to China.

dwd 6y ago

Do we need a modern version of 1984? WestWorld (season 3) comes to mind but doesn't have the communist structure; but any future dystopia would likely see the party replaced by algorithms leaving just the inner circle and the proles.

p2t2p 6y ago

There's. It's called Firefly

seer 6y ago

The venerable “Firefly” series explored this a bit way back in 2002. The idea was that since china is _the_ superpower even the lowliest scum would know a curse word or two in chinese. Was quite an interesting concept back then.

Lio 6y ago
It’s an interesting programme but I don’t really think life in the next 100 years will resemble Firefly. It’s probably closer to the truth to imagine a world with no Western intellectual property or manufacturing. That will mean “interesting” changes. For example, what would it mean if most western pharmaceutical companies fail and access to cutting edge medicine was only available through China? What power would that give the CCP and what would they do with that considering their current ambition? Look at their expanding South American fishing fleet and naval action in the South China Sea for clues.

Animats 6y ago

China's plans aren't a big secret. There's Made In China 2025.[1] The 14th Five Year Plan is being drafted now. Unlike the USSR, China was reasonably successful in meeting the goals of the 13 Five Year Plans so far, with the notable exception of the Great Leap Forward fiasco of the 1960s. The Made In China 2025 plan focuses on pharmaceutical, automotive, aerospace, semiconductor, IT and robotics manufacturing. The goal is to have a state of the art position in all those fields by 2025. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_China_2025 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_China_2025

Lio 6y ago
That’s my point. It’s not secret but Netflix and Amazon aren’t exactly rushing to layout what the future will look like when the Chinese achieve these goals.
ArkVark 6y ago
China also has a higher average IQ than much of the rest of the world: 104, vs 98 for the USA: https://www.worlddata.info/iq-by-country.php https://www.worlddata.info/iq-by-country.php China is also pursuing eugenic strategies with the one-child policy, and controlled migration into cities (which encourages assortative mating). The Fertility Rate of 1.6 is reasonable. By contrast many Western countries are pursuing dysgenic strategies through the provision of mass-welfare, and the intake of migrants from lower-IQ countries. China just needs to sit back for 30-50 years and wait for these trends to play out, if it has the patience. We're already seeing the first reports of IQ declines: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/iq-rates-are-dropping-many-developed-countries-doesn-t-bode-ncna1008576 https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/iq-rates-are-dropping-...
- CraigJPerry 6y ago
  This seems more like a dumb conspiracy, the kind of pseudoscience BS you’d feed to QANON’s. Let’s go through it piece by piece: 1. Doesn’t define how IQ was measured in each country 2. Doesn’t state when for each country 3. Doesn’t define how the average was calculated 4. Doesn’t provide any data on rate of change of IQ - this is important, for those not aware IQ tests are reframed every few years to keep most people on the 85-115 range. The revision trend is always upwards so far - it’s arguable that we’re getting smarter because of flaws in IQ as a concept but we’re certainly becoming more capable in the modern world which is not controversial Enough about IQ we could bang on more about statistical significance and anything between 85 - 115 is average but lets move on to the real meat to be refuted. 6. China’s one-child policy formally ended 5 years ago after many years of gradual reductions in restrictions 7. China is actively trying to walk back the damage of its 1 child policies and is incentivising married couples to have more than 1 child (and somewhat confusingly, has actually been doing this since before the end of the 1 child policy) Now the real BS part 8. No country anywhere is pursuing dysgenic strategy 9. Welfare - help given to people who need it. I am intrigued what you actually mean here, are you suggesting we should let people die who can Otherwise be saved by provision of assistance? 10. Intake of migrants from “lower iq” countries - are these doctors and engineers on Visas or asylum seekers and refugees from areas rendered uninhabitable by war, climate or lawlessness?

jayd16 6y ago

People write about what they know so I don't really expect US media to really come up with something like that. That said, maybe we're due for an Escape from Honk Kong.

lenkite 6y ago

China is well on its way to being a super-power and will likely be the sole global superpower by 2040, fully capable of enforcing their will and policies on all nations of the world. They have already successfully infiltrated most international and political organisations as well as the international press to ensure there is no consensual united stand taken against them. They can successfully carry out mass sterilisation and genocide campaigns with little or no blow-back from anyone. What amazes me is how few recognise the extraordinary threat they pose to the world today.