Welcome, new industry heads. That’s how it works. China takes a car, picks it apart and builds a cheaper car. That’s what they’ve been doing for decades now.
We got angry when Japan did this in the 60s and 70s. I’m going to paste part of the opening from Neal Stephenson’s “Snow Crash.”
Why is the Deliverator so equipped? Because people rely on him. He is a roll model. This is America. People do whatever the fuck they feel like doing, you got a problem with that? Because they have a right to. And because they have guns and no one can fucking stop them. As a result, this country has one of the worst economies in the world. When it gets down to it – talking trade balances here – once we’ve brain-drained all our technology into other countries, once things have evened out, they 're making cars in Bolivia and microwave ovens in Tadzhikistan and selling them here – once our edge in natural resources has been made irrelevant by giant Hong Kong ships and dirigibles that can ship North Dakota all the way to New Zealand for a nickel – once the Invisible Hand has taken all those historical inequities and smeared them out into a broad global layer of what a Pakistani brickmaker would consider to be prosperity – y’know what? There’s only four things we do better than anyone else
music
movies
microcode (software)
high-speed pizza delivery
The Deliverator used to make software. Still does, sometimes. But if life were a mellow elementary school run by well-meaning education Ph.D.s, the Deliverator ’ s report card would say: “Hiro is so bright and creative but needs to work harder on his cooperation skills.”
I’m kinda reminded of the tale of how the Zilog Z80 processor chip had dozens of little “tricks” built into it. It was being produced in Japan which at the time was famous for their chip production and for copying chip designs. Apparently their little tricks were baffling enough that it delayed the appearance of knock-offs chips by half a year.
Forgot that they are only able to do so because the Western capitalists have been trying to snuff out domestic organized labor and thus dumping huge sums of money into Chinese production for half a century.
If it was just pure copying the best you could hope for is that you match the performance of your competitor. To exceed their performance genuine investment must be made.
Solar panels. Huawei had some very good 5g tech before the US sanctioned them (great performance competitive price). Electric cars from various brands like BYD and, a very good case can be made about deepseek r1 (same performance as o1 but using an order of magnitude less power/cost).
Can’t comment on deepseek but Huawei and BYD certainly are inferior to other products in their industries. Probably not for long, but it’s still a happenstance I believe.
The commercial drones from DJI are the best in the industry. But also making something that’s almost as performant but for a fraction of the cost requires real innovation as well.
DeepSeek’s training model was innovative. They used multiple large specialized models to train a very small general model. This is a real practical innovation over OpenAI’s one behemoth general purpose model.
I guess, but very often private innovation builds upon a bunch of fundamental research funded by the tax payer. Then the private sector patents it, and brings it to market, overcharges and earns billions. Tough luck if China gets better at this game.
And since China is not a party to any Western IP trade agreements and not bound under international trade law, the only solution is a) diplomacy or b) war
Would it be better to get your primary from a reputable house and your backup from a discount, or better to get your primary from a discount and your backup from a reputable house?
Welcome, new industry heads. That’s how it works. China takes a car, picks it apart and builds a cheaper car. That’s what they’ve been doing for decades now.
That’s par for the course, but it’s hilarious that openai “we have to get copyrighted material for free because fuck you” is pulling that defense now.
Yep.
We got angry when Japan did this in the 60s and 70s. I’m going to paste part of the opening from Neal Stephenson’s “Snow Crash.”
I’m kinda reminded of the tale of how the Zilog Z80 processor chip had dozens of little “tricks” built into it. It was being produced in Japan which at the time was famous for their chip production and for copying chip designs. Apparently their little tricks were baffling enough that it delayed the appearance of knock-offs chips by half a year.
With zero investment in innovation. They just wait and steal the work. Easy to undercut American companies when you have no R&D costs.
Forgot that they are only able to do so because the Western capitalists have been trying to snuff out domestic organized labor and thus dumping huge sums of money into Chinese production for half a century.
Yeah. The crying by CEOs during this obviously inevitable “and find out” phase is beyond ludicrous.
If it was just pure copying the best you could hope for is that you match the performance of your competitor. To exceed their performance genuine investment must be made.
Name a Chinese company that produces a product that’s best in the world.
There’s probably some lasers/tech etc but nothing consumer, I would guess.
Solar panels. Huawei had some very good 5g tech before the US sanctioned them (great performance competitive price). Electric cars from various brands like BYD and, a very good case can be made about deepseek r1 (same performance as o1 but using an order of magnitude less power/cost).
Can’t comment on deepseek but Huawei and BYD certainly are inferior to other products in their industries. Probably not for long, but it’s still a happenstance I believe.
Ah yes that’s why America worked super hard to ban them both right.
Oh I wouldn’t base any decisions off anything America did.
The commercial drones from DJI are the best in the industry. But also making something that’s almost as performant but for a fraction of the cost requires real innovation as well.
DeepSeek’s training model was innovative. They used multiple large specialized models to train a very small general model. This is a real practical innovation over OpenAI’s one behemoth general purpose model.
True, DJI is a top competitor if not the best drones. Good point
What are you on a about. They produce almost everything you own.
They produce other people’s products, I’m talking Chinese designed, produced etc vehicle, phone, TV, plane, whatever
FoxConn makes iPhones, for one.
I guess, but very often private innovation builds upon a bunch of fundamental research funded by the tax payer. Then the private sector patents it, and brings it to market, overcharges and earns billions. Tough luck if China gets better at this game.
And since China is not a party to any Western IP trade agreements and not bound under international trade law, the only solution is a) diplomacy or b) war
B sounds fun
looks at all my non-critical electronics…
enshitification smells like Chineseium
That said, I like cheap non-critical crap
I bought my parachute from AliExpress and my reserve chute from Temu.
Would it be better to get your primary from a reputable house and your backup from a discount, or better to get your primary from a discount and your backup from a reputable house?
You rarely use the reserve so I buy the cheapest one I can.
good to know! thanks!
No problem.
Ah the Burger King model