>I wonder if the liberal west mentality is the only way to make technological progress. Germany made significant technological progress from 1933 to 1945. They

>I wonder if the liberal west mentality is the only way to make technological progress. Germany made significant technological progress from 1933 to 1945. They threw away their early lead in computing after the war, maybe not too unsurprising given the circumstances. But I also think China deserves some credit for mastering the 95% approach to product development, which is now even infecting western companies. The Chinese strategy is clearly a race to the bottom and they seem to be winning. Things like safety standards and reliability are mostly a burden if you are shoveling out to a market of consumers willing to buy anything if the price is low enough. Stealing is obviously far cheaper then R&D, which means just another market advantage.