4 ms·

Why is China smashing its tech industry?

10 points by stereoradonc 5y ago

atomicity 5y ago
I've heard stuff before about the fact that conglomerates like Tencent make it hard for Chinese startups to get money. Is that true and potentially the larger factor? Given that it's so easy to spend 3+ hours a day on internet entertainment, I find it logical that ad-driven social media is a productivity drain. However, are they simply addressing a symptom of why people get hooked to social media? What's stopping people from watching TV for 5+ hours a day like certain older, retired generations?
- MonaroVXR 5y ago
  Television is boring in my country (The Netherlands) it's plain, compare this to US television and it's in your face. Completely different dynamic. Maybe it's me because, I have weak spot for other countries than the one I love in. But Germany is boring too. Social media hits me harder and there again a lot of people from different countries that aren't boring. (I have no way define boring, it's personal.)
  - ikr678 5y ago
    In Australia, we call this 'cultural cringe', and also express strong preferences for foreign produced media. I personally would rather stare at a blank wall than read fiction by local authors- it is always too familiar a setting and doesn't provide the escapism I am looking for.
BJBBB 5y ago
I will not apologize for being an American patriot, and for wanting a decrease of western malfeasance and marginal competence. But I do think that China gets it right much more often than not. Dan Wang's quoted article, and his other writings, emphasize China's ambivalence and distaste for the western (popular) concept of technology being internet and consumer-driven code. China cares more about the stuff designed by Qualcom, Keysight, Intel, TI, et al than the stuff ground out by FAANG. And China's mind-set stems from collective knowledge of a millennia in the struggles and wars, where the long-term goals were to centralize and control and advance and be the ultimate winner.

10 points by stereoradonc 5y ago

I've heard stuff before about the fact that conglomerates like Tencent make it hard for Chinese startups to get money. Is that true and potentially the larger factor? Given that it's so easy to spend 3+ hours a day on internet entertainment, I find it logical that ad-driven social media is a productivity drain. However, are they simply addressing a symptom of why people get hooked to social media? What's stopping people from watching TV for 5+ hours a day like certain older, retired generations?

MonaroVXR 5y ago
Television is boring in my country (The Netherlands) it's plain, compare this to US television and it's in your face. Completely different dynamic. Maybe it's me because, I have weak spot for other countries than the one I love in. But Germany is boring too. Social media hits me harder and there again a lot of people from different countries that aren't boring. (I have no way define boring, it's personal.)
- ikr678 5y ago
  In Australia, we call this 'cultural cringe', and also express strong preferences for foreign produced media. I personally would rather stare at a blank wall than read fiction by local authors- it is always too familiar a setting and doesn't provide the escapism I am looking for.

BJBBB 5y ago

I will not apologize for being an American patriot, and for wanting a decrease of western malfeasance and marginal competence. But I do think that China gets it right much more often than not. Dan Wang's quoted article, and his other writings, emphasize China's ambivalence and distaste for the western (popular) concept of technology being internet and consumer-driven code. China cares more about the stuff designed by Qualcom, Keysight, Intel, TI, et al than the stuff ground out by FAANG. And China's mind-set stems from collective knowledge of a millennia in the struggles and wars, where the long-term goals were to centralize and control and advance and be the ultimate winner.