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I think something like "what if Germany had gotten nukes before the end of the war in Europe, and before the US" is a more interesting counterfactual than the U
by majormajor 4y ago
I think something like "what if Germany had gotten nukes before the end of the war in Europe, and before the US" is a more interesting counterfactual than the US not getting nukes before the end of the Pacific war. Or Russia or another European country, to a lesser extent.
- Yoric 4y agoIt is true that both Germany and the US considered it a race. However, as it turns out, by the end of the war, Germany was actually pretty far from even seeing the finish line. For some reason, murdering or driving away many of your brightest minds because they happen to come from the wrong branch of the religious tree/diverge from the mainstream sexual orientation/don't adhere to the political cult in power doesn't help come up with breakthroughs in fundamental sciences.
- inawarminister 4y agoYep, on the other hand, the US rival right now while a bit tyrannical, is actually in the similar tier to American academia; maybe a few months or even weeks behind. And lots of people in the unaligned* world is ready to switch from San Fransisco to Beijing if the latter provides cheap LLM for commercial purposes. * In the human sense of the world
- Yoric 4y agoThat is a good point. By opposition to the West, which has counted for 30+ years on banking as its main source of power, China has managed to bet on pretty much everything else, including huge investments in academia.