4 ms·

You or no other person on HN is the authority on this either way. Unless you're one of like 30 people in the US.

wolverine876 4y ago
Do you have any evidence that it's connected to a war? I'm not an expert, but I do read them quite a bit. Zero experts are saying that these events have anything to do warfare between the US and China. Can you point one out who does say it?
- rlt 4y ago
  10 seconds of Googling: https://www.memri.org/reports/april-2022-paper-chinas-peoples-liberation-army-military-can-use-balloons-test-enemy-air https://www.memri.org/reports/april-2022-paper-chinas-people...
  - wolverine876 4y ago
    That's from April 2022. Whatever they were talking about, it wasn't the balloons.
    - rlt 4y ago
      Huh? This paper by the PLA discussed possible military applications a year before these showed up and you think they’re unrelated?
      - wolverine876 4y ago
        It wasn't these balloons; it's not evidence of a war. Every major country has a military with various programs.
  - filoleg 4y ago
    I am not trying to throw around "fake news" accusations, but linking a Memri article as a proof of something might not be as convincing as you think. Memri is extremely notorious for posting english translations of their articles that are often not only inaccurate, but distort what was actually said to mean something entirely different. There is a massive "Translation accuracy and controversy" section on their wikipedia page dedicated just to that. Sidenote, they are also a source of some of the most genuinely hilarious and deranged quotes (or rather, translation of thereof) that I've ever heard on TV. A guest going on about the grand conspiracy of Spongebob (yes, the nickelodeon tv show) being the tool of Israel to turn children gay was something else[1]. 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East_Media_Research_Institute https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East_Media_Research_Ins... 1. https://youtu.be/cQbNNkemR2s https://youtu.be/cQbNNkemR2s
    - rlt 4y ago
      Fair enough, but if the PLA wrote a paper on the military applications of high altitude balloons a year ago that's all I need to know.
- roflyear 4y ago
  I specifically said either way and I didn't imply or suggest it is or isn't to do with a war. I'm just saying that only a few people know the reality of the situation with China and it's unlikely you're one of them.
  - wolverine876 4y ago
    So what do you specifically say?
    - roflyear 4y ago
      My point is we shouldn't insist one way or the other.
      - wolverine876 4y ago
        We know nothing at all unless we are experts? That is such a difficult life to live. Express an opinion and support it. Or even more extreme: Everything is possible until we prove the negative? It goes the other way: You need to prove the positive statement for it to be credible.
        roflyear 4y ago
        No, it's fine to speculate, but not okay to assert.
        wolverine876 4y ago
        > it's fine to speculate I disagree: 1. The Internet has infinite speculation available; more speculation adds nothing. 2. Misinformation is an enormous problem, and speculation makes it worse: It is misinformation, and it drowns out real information. 3. It's bullshit. Why would you want to say things that are BS? Is it fun?
        roflyear 4y ago

Do you have any evidence that it's connected to a war? I'm not an expert, but I do read them quite a bit. Zero experts are saying that these events have anything to do warfare between the US and China. Can you point one out who does say it?

rlt 4y ago
10 seconds of Googling: https://www.memri.org/reports/april-2022-paper-chinas-peoples-liberation-army-military-can-use-balloons-test-enemy-air https://www.memri.org/reports/april-2022-paper-chinas-people...
- wolverine876 4y ago
  That's from April 2022. Whatever they were talking about, it wasn't the balloons.
  - rlt 4y ago
    Huh? This paper by the PLA discussed possible military applications a year before these showed up and you think they’re unrelated?
    - wolverine876 4y ago
      It wasn't these balloons; it's not evidence of a war. Every major country has a military with various programs.
- filoleg 4y ago
  I am not trying to throw around "fake news" accusations, but linking a Memri article as a proof of something might not be as convincing as you think. Memri is extremely notorious for posting english translations of their articles that are often not only inaccurate, but distort what was actually said to mean something entirely different. There is a massive "Translation accuracy and controversy" section on their wikipedia page dedicated just to that. Sidenote, they are also a source of some of the most genuinely hilarious and deranged quotes (or rather, translation of thereof) that I've ever heard on TV. A guest going on about the grand conspiracy of Spongebob (yes, the nickelodeon tv show) being the tool of Israel to turn children gay was something else[1]. 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East_Media_Research_Institute https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East_Media_Research_Ins... 1. https://youtu.be/cQbNNkemR2s https://youtu.be/cQbNNkemR2s
  - rlt 4y ago
    Fair enough, but if the PLA wrote a paper on the military applications of high altitude balloons a year ago that's all I need to know.
roflyear 4y ago
I specifically said either way and I didn't imply or suggest it is or isn't to do with a war. I'm just saying that only a few people know the reality of the situation with China and it's unlikely you're one of them.
- wolverine876 4y ago
  So what do you specifically say?
  - roflyear 4y ago
    My point is we shouldn't insist one way or the other.
    - wolverine876 4y ago
      We know nothing at all unless we are experts? That is such a difficult life to live. Express an opinion and support it. Or even more extreme: Everything is possible until we prove the negative? It goes the other way: You need to prove the positive statement for it to be credible.
      - roflyear 4y ago
        No, it's fine to speculate, but not okay to assert.
        wolverine876 4y ago
        > it's fine to speculate I disagree: 1. The Internet has infinite speculation available; more speculation adds nothing. 2. Misinformation is an enormous problem, and speculation makes it worse: It is misinformation, and it drowns out real information. 3. It's bullshit. Why would you want to say things that are BS? Is it fun?
        roflyear 4y ago