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Kinda envious of them that, due to sanctions, they end up with hyperscalers. Europe will never get hyperscales while being too tight with the US, and any protec

by jimbohn 8mo ago

Kinda envious of them that, due to sanctions, they end up with hyperscalers. Europe will never get hyperscales while being too tight with the US, and any protectionism at the service industry level would make the US go more mental than it already is.

alephnerd 8mo ago
It's not only because of sanctions. It's primarily because their leadership have deeply technical backgrounds. Most of my peers who ended up in policymaking roles in Europe (and in some cases the levers of power) all had a humanities or legal background and never worked in or adjacent to the tech industry. Assuming Iran didn't follow the path that it did, Iran would have also ended up becoming a tech hub like Israel became today. But this recognition should not be used to glaze a regime that has officially admitted to killing at least 5,000 protestors [0] in just 2 weeks and in reality killed significantly more people than that. Being adept at understanding the applications of technology doesn't make one a humanist. [0] - https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/iranian-official-says-verified-deaths-iran-protests-reaches-least-5000-2026-01-18/ https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/iranian-offic...
- jimbohn 8mo ago
  Agree with you on pretty much everything you have said. The background of policymakers in Europe really annoys me. Just to be clear, I wasn't glazing Iran or anything.
  - larodi 8mo ago
    The background of most everyone in Brussels seems so wrong for the technological realities nowadays. I believe this sentiment is shared by a lot of people, and now it unfolds in Europe plainly lacking behind in technology. Which is such a shame given history of discoveries and advancement that was going on on the continent for centuries.
    - jimbohn 8mo ago
      The whole European political elite and ruling class feels like a quasi-aristocracy (something the US is slowly moving into as well, with political dynasties and such) that is used to go to some big-name art/humanities place and then slide into the bureaucracy ladder. Totally detached people, and it's a pity because we really need Europe to be better.
      - viking123 8mo ago
        The failures fall upwards into Brussels usually, sadly then you get very much second rate politicians that were even hated in their own countries.
    - viking123 8mo ago
      I mean most countries send their failures there, also people who are not liked in the respective countries usually slip there for comfy jobs.
- hshdhdhj4444 8mo ago
  Iranians have a 5+ millennia culture of being highly educated, technical and creative. That expertise wasn’t just gonna disappear in a couple of decades. And yes, the Iranian regime is brutal and terrible. This was one time the opposition was strong enough that they may have had a chance and yet our fellow in chief decided to launch incendiary words, which only allowed the regime to paint the opposition as western funded, while not providing any actual support (there’s a reason Israel, which is at least led by competent leadership, kept quiet about the protests in Iran because they understand how their words of support would undermine them).
- myth_drannon 8mo ago
  Iran is rich in natural resources(gas,oil), one of the richest actually. No country so rich can become a tech hub like Israel/Singapore (which just had no other options for development).
gsf_emergency_6 8mo ago
A subtle reason for preferring negotiations towards mutually beneficial ends-- sanctions can supercharge tech adoption
- jimbohn 8mo ago
  Yeah, or even just protectionism. Most economists I've heard say that protectionism doesn't work, but I feel like China being quiet and protectionist in the infancy of its key industries was like the move of the century for them.
  - deleted 8mo ago
    [deleted]
  - gsf_emergency_6 8mo ago
    Protectionism and sanctions form a kind of virtuous feedback loop :) https://incyber.org/en/article/iran-between-isolation-and-technological-resilience/ https://incyber.org/en/article/iran-between-isolation-and-te... >The Iranian Information Technology Organization (ITOI) even set precise rules to evaluate candidates based on three different standards: ISO 27017 (cloud security controls), ISO 27018 (protection of personally identifiable information), and NIST SP 900-145, which concerns the American definition of cloud computing. “They want a comprehensive offer with its three components— IaaS, SaaS, and PaaS https://incyber.org/en/article/iran-between-isolation-and-technological-resilience/#:~:text=The%20Iranian%20Information,SaaS%2C%20and%20PaaS%2C https://incyber.org/en/article/iran-between-isolation-and-te...
  - baxtr 8mo ago
    Not sure tbh. China could have been like Japan per capita. Protectionism puts a big cap on economic growth potential.
    - deleted 8mo ago
      [deleted]
    - gsf_emergency_6 8mo ago

by jimbohn 8mo ago

alephnerd 8mo ago

It's not only because of sanctions. It's primarily because their leadership have deeply technical backgrounds. Most of my peers who ended up in policymaking roles in Europe (and in some cases the levers of power) all had a humanities or legal background and never worked in or adjacent to the tech industry. Assuming Iran didn't follow the path that it did, Iran would have also ended up becoming a tech hub like Israel became today. But this recognition should not be used to glaze a regime that has officially admitted to killing at least 5,000 protestors [0] in just 2 weeks and in reality killed significantly more people than that. Being adept at understanding the applications of technology doesn't make one a humanist. [0] - https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/iranian-official-says-verified-deaths-iran-protests-reaches-least-5000-2026-01-18/ https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/iranian-offic...

jimbohn 8mo ago
Agree with you on pretty much everything you have said. The background of policymakers in Europe really annoys me. Just to be clear, I wasn't glazing Iran or anything.
- larodi 8mo ago
  The background of most everyone in Brussels seems so wrong for the technological realities nowadays. I believe this sentiment is shared by a lot of people, and now it unfolds in Europe plainly lacking behind in technology. Which is such a shame given history of discoveries and advancement that was going on on the continent for centuries.
  - jimbohn 8mo ago
    The whole European political elite and ruling class feels like a quasi-aristocracy (something the US is slowly moving into as well, with political dynasties and such) that is used to go to some big-name art/humanities place and then slide into the bureaucracy ladder. Totally detached people, and it's a pity because we really need Europe to be better.
    - viking123 8mo ago
      The failures fall upwards into Brussels usually, sadly then you get very much second rate politicians that were even hated in their own countries.
  - viking123 8mo ago
    I mean most countries send their failures there, also people who are not liked in the respective countries usually slip there for comfy jobs.
hshdhdhj4444 8mo ago
Iranians have a 5+ millennia culture of being highly educated, technical and creative. That expertise wasn’t just gonna disappear in a couple of decades. And yes, the Iranian regime is brutal and terrible. This was one time the opposition was strong enough that they may have had a chance and yet our fellow in chief decided to launch incendiary words, which only allowed the regime to paint the opposition as western funded, while not providing any actual support (there’s a reason Israel, which is at least led by competent leadership, kept quiet about the protests in Iran because they understand how their words of support would undermine them).
myth_drannon 8mo ago
Iran is rich in natural resources(gas,oil), one of the richest actually. No country so rich can become a tech hub like Israel/Singapore (which just had no other options for development).

gsf_emergency_6 8mo ago

A subtle reason for preferring negotiations towards mutually beneficial ends-- sanctions can supercharge tech adoption

jimbohn 8mo ago
Yeah, or even just protectionism. Most economists I've heard say that protectionism doesn't work, but I feel like China being quiet and protectionist in the infancy of its key industries was like the move of the century for them.
- deleted 8mo ago
  [deleted]
- gsf_emergency_6 8mo ago
  Protectionism and sanctions form a kind of virtuous feedback loop :) https://incyber.org/en/article/iran-between-isolation-and-technological-resilience/ https://incyber.org/en/article/iran-between-isolation-and-te... >The Iranian Information Technology Organization (ITOI) even set precise rules to evaluate candidates based on three different standards: ISO 27017 (cloud security controls), ISO 27018 (protection of personally identifiable information), and NIST SP 900-145, which concerns the American definition of cloud computing. “They want a comprehensive offer with its three components— IaaS, SaaS, and PaaS https://incyber.org/en/article/iran-between-isolation-and-technological-resilience/#:~:text=The%20Iranian%20Information,SaaS%2C%20and%20PaaS%2C https://incyber.org/en/article/iran-between-isolation-and-te...
- baxtr 8mo ago
  Not sure tbh. China could have been like Japan per capita. Protectionism puts a big cap on economic growth potential.
  - deleted 8mo ago
    [deleted]
  - gsf_emergency_6 8mo ago