6 ms·
It's not just AI. China's medicines are surprising the world, too
- helsinkiandrew 2y agohttps://archive.ph/xjGqd https://archive.ph/xjGqd
- butterlettuce 2y ago/Chat, are we cooked?
- aurareturn 2y agoWhy? Who the heck cares where the drugs came from if it works better?
- thecleaner 2y agoValid question. Its quite possible there's a future where only "favoured pharmaceutical company" can distribute these drugs in the US to protect against woke left liberals who might contaminate these meds with drugs that might turn your son gay. :)
- randcraw 2y agoMultiply that one product by all the others and you're out of work, unless you move to China. That's why you should care.
- rsynnott 2y agoSee also, Japan in the 80s, West Germany in the 1960s, _Italy_ in the 60s (that one was particularly short-lived), the US in the 40s-50s and to some extent again in the late 90s, etc etc. "[Country] will outcompete the whole world to the extent that the rest of the world will literally collapse" is a long-running idea, but doesn't _really_ make that much sense. Though, also, I kind of thought that people thinking this about China had peaked in the '10s at some point (as with the other examples, China's GDP growth rate has now moderated). Move onto the next country that's going to take over the world, already!
- bdcravens 2y agoI remembered reading an article in Wired about 20 years ago, about counterfeit cloth. A premier fabric maker in France said that Chinese cloth wasn't just a counterfeit of theirs, but was actually a superior product. BYD would easily blow away Tesla as the leading EV maker if they were allowed in the US. TikTok has proven that not only can China create a world-leading social platform, that users care so little about where it's from that when it was blocked, they flocked to another Chinese social-media option rather than retreat to the "safe" options. China is even winning in American capitalism, there 70-80% of the goods sold by Walmart and Amazon are from China. Companies like BambuLab, DJI, and Roborock are proven world-leaders in their categories. Sticking our head in the sand and pretending that American and Western products are inherently superior is absolutely foolish.
- Ekaros 2y agoI have been thinking for a while that lot of people need to understand that China is making the cheapest possible crap because lot of us keep buying it. Why not make cheap stuff when customers want and pay for it. Being able and willing to make cheap stuff, does not prevent on from making expensive and good quality stuff as well. And you can in many parts make that quality stuff cheaper as you have supply chain from raw materials.
- RunOutOfMemory 2y agoChina's vertically-integrated manufacturing ecosystem strategically creates value at all tiers - while cost-efficient production democratizes access to smartphones, solar equipment and IoT devices for billions globally, the same supply chains empower premium innovations like Huawei's satellite phones or CATL's solid-state batteries. This dual-capacity bridges the digital divide: African farmers now access agritech tools at 1/5 the 2010 prices, and South Asian households install solar systems cheaper than kerosene alternatives. Ultimately, industrial clusters aren't just making things affordable, but redefining what's possible for human development at every income level.
- slavik81 2y agoGo back to the early 1970s and "Made in Japan" was an indicator of a low quality product. This sort of thing has happened before a few times. China is just bigger than the others that did it.
- lm28469 2y agoThe next best thing after a president who has a long term vision for its country is a dictator who has a long term vision for his country. Sadly in the west we don't really have any of the former, and the wannabe dictators we get are even more self absorbed and only interested in the next election cycle
- ossobuco 2y agoA dictator who serves the people's interests is more democratic than an elected official who harms them.
- dartos 2y agoDemocratic != good for the people, just who the people wanted. Dictators don’t give people the choice. You’re just using the word “democratic” wrong.
- ossobuco 2y agoI disagree, democracy is literally the power of the people. A dictator who serves the people's interests is effectively concretizing that power, as opposed to a corrupt/inept elected official who will deny it.
- dartos 2y ago> A dictator who serves the people's interests is effectively concretizing that power Wtf? No. A dictator maintains all the power. The people have no power. Just because the interests of the people are supported by the actions of a dictator does not mean the people have any power. Because they don’t… Now you’re using the term “power” incorrectly. The difference is that in a democracy the people can vote out corrupt individuals, at least theoretically. That can’t happen in a dictatorship because, again, the people have no power.
- ossobuco 2y ago
- Havoc 2y agoThey seem to be hitting all their long term goals pretty well. Makes me wonder whether it is time to learn Mandarin
- arrobbiato 2y agoTechnology is quickly approaching the point where you don't need to speak Mandarin if you want to speak Mandarin.
- xandrius 2y agoI'm sure you'll know when the time comes. And if you were not interested to learn it beforehand it won't serve you for a long while.
- blitzar 2y agoThe belief in the myth that "the Chinese" are poor, stupid, backward, inferior etc. is what causes such suprise.
- aurareturn 2y agoWhy would anyone believe that? In particular this forum. Everyone here has worked with a Chinese colleague smarter than them. China has 1.4 billion of them.
- arpyzo 2y agoI was under the impression that the surprise is that their authoritarian political system doesn't stifle the conditions required for this level of innovation.
- tim333 2y agoIt's authoritarian in some ways - don't criticize the government etc - but I think they are fairly laissez faire in terms of most businesses doing their thing.
- fspeech 2y agoChina proves that you don't need 100 times return on capital to get potential innovators to take risk. 100% may be enough. People say China couldn't innovate due to its weak IPR protection, but it is turning out that you don't need to be an absolutist. Sure outright theft is bad, but imitation can be good for competition. You want to give the innovators a head start so they can profit from their efforts, but you don't want to make the protection so tight that they can sit on their initial efforts and profit for years to come without further innovation.
- blitzar 2y ago> Sure outright theft is bad, but imitation can be good for competition. Worked out pretty well for a small upstart nation in the late 18th century called the United States of America
- 2y ago
- InDubioProRubio 2y agoThe funny thing though is that china can extort obviously corrupt external markets. Just synthesize wegovy, sell it a gestation price, shake down a cartel or industry for the price difference. If your oligarchy can not compete and the corruption prevents it form keeping up, it has to take over to prevent extinction by the external competition.
- blackeyeblitzar 2y agoI wonder how much of this is a result of past outsourcing, IP theft, and all that. But it doesn’t matter now - China is competitive and is a much more dangerous adversary for free societies than the Soviet Union ever was. I wonder when western countries will have a better plan for this new reality.
- pjc50 2y agoChina is not much of an adversary. They have basically one overseas territory claim, and it's Taiwan. Other than that they're still less of a threat than Russia.
- tuan 2y agoDon't forget their claims in the East Sea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine-dash_line https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine-dash_line
- michtzik 2y agoHow many overseas territory claims do you think Russia has?
- blackeyeblitzar 2y agoThere’s also the claims to Tibet and Xinjiang…
- DiogenesKynikos 2y agoThose are internationally recognized as belonging to China and are under Chinese control.
- tim333 2y agoI think it's a good thing. Not only are new medicines in general a good thing, the US system is so slow, partly due to bureaucracy, that if you do find a cure for anything it seems to take fifteen years to get to patients.