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> China tends to be a fast copier, not a leader. What a huge generalisation. This appears to be true in the consumer electronics world perhaps, but look outsi
by adam-a 14y ago
> China tends to be a fast copier, not a leader.
What a huge generalisation. This appears to be true in the consumer electronics world perhaps, but look outside of that and it's harder to justify.
For example, China has been building a lot of infrastructure in the past few decades, including the longest and highest bridges in the world[0][1]. There was a story on HN a few days ago about a Chinese company's plans to build what will be the tallest building in only 90 days[2].
Granted there is a lot of press about these bridges falling down, and maybe their rocket will blow up half way to Mars. But you can't say that they aren't pushing things themselves.
[0]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest_bridges_in_the_world http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest_bridges_in_the_...
[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_bridges_in_the_world http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_bridges_in_the_world
[2]http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4807701 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4807701
- electrograv 14y agoI actually think that it's quite fair to criticize a "leading" achievement that falls apart or otherwise fails soon after. For an achievement to "count", I'd make the bold claim that it has to actually work. * However, I do agree that often to make progress you absolutely have to push your engineering "comfort zone" and try dangerous things, in order to learn from your mistakes. But this does not change my definition of "success", it just acknowledges realities of R&D.