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What's short-sighted and naive is believing that globalism can be reversed, that economic efficiency can be overcome by political will, and that knowledge can b

by t-3 23d ago

What's short-sighted and naive is believing that globalism can be reversed, that economic efficiency can be overcome by political will, and that knowledge can be contained to one country. More and deeper international economic and political entaglements are inevitable. How can an adversarial relationship with one of the most advanced countries with abundant production and labor capacity help anything? Economic nationalism and high tech are incompatible.

like_any_other 23d ago
> economic efficiency can be overcome by political will It was political will that created that economic efficiency, that you're now trying to convince us is just a fact of nature. > Economic nationalism and high tech are incompatible. China is economically (and traditionally) nationalist - that's why they subsidize and protect their important industries: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49421633 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49421633
wolvesechoes 23d ago
> What's short-sighted and naive is believing that globalism can be reversed, that economic efficiency can be overcome by political will, and that knowledge can be contained to one country Peak ideology. > Economic nationalism and high tech are incompatible Except in China?
- t-3 23d ago
  China's internal economy is sluggish and has always underperformed. They rode the wave of industrialization, but production started moving away to cheaper locales years ago. Their rising standard of living hasn't come with the increased demand that makes the US consumer market so powerful. Technological advances and demand for cheap labor will pull up all the underdeveloped countries the same way as China. China cannot produce high technology without inputs from all over the world. NOBODY can! That's what I mean when I say that nationalism and tech are incompatible. Free trade and transparent borders make technological progress faster, arbitrary restrictions and impediments to trade impede it. The knowledge that underlies the technological advances must be spread in order to produce future technologies, so it will be spread. There is no way to hold back the process of technological advance without destroying humanity itself, and so there's no way to keep technology locked in one nation, no way to maintain an eternal advantage.

by t-3 23d ago

like_any_other 23d ago

> economic efficiency can be overcome by political will It was political will that created that economic efficiency, that you're now trying to convince us is just a fact of nature. > Economic nationalism and high tech are incompatible. China is economically (and traditionally) nationalist - that's why they subsidize and protect their important industries: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49421633 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49421633

wolvesechoes 23d ago

> What's short-sighted and naive is believing that globalism can be reversed, that economic efficiency can be overcome by political will, and that knowledge can be contained to one country Peak ideology. > Economic nationalism and high tech are incompatible Except in China?

t-3 23d ago
China's internal economy is sluggish and has always underperformed. They rode the wave of industrialization, but production started moving away to cheaper locales years ago. Their rising standard of living hasn't come with the increased demand that makes the US consumer market so powerful. Technological advances and demand for cheap labor will pull up all the underdeveloped countries the same way as China. China cannot produce high technology without inputs from all over the world. NOBODY can! That's what I mean when I say that nationalism and tech are incompatible. Free trade and transparent borders make technological progress faster, arbitrary restrictions and impediments to trade impede it. The knowledge that underlies the technological advances must be spread in order to produce future technologies, so it will be spread. There is no way to hold back the process of technological advance without destroying humanity itself, and so there's no way to keep technology locked in one nation, no way to maintain an eternal advantage.