People rarely like or dislike a place for its nature, buildings, food, etc. That's all BS we tell ourselves. People connect with people. I can see how a military base is conducive to forming the kinds of personal bonds that are so rare in today's developed nations.
That CGP Grey video is 6+ years old already and none of its claims have come to pass. That video and this blog post both seem like the usual techno-utopian fluff -- a sermon to the already converted.
Here's the truth: life expectancy is going down, birth rates are below replacement, sperm counts are down something like 90% in less than a century, we're working longer hours than medieval serfs, and suffering from more disease than our hunter-gatherer ancestors.
This Techno-religion of AI, genetic engineering, automation, etc being "right around the corner" is the opiate of the masses -- the propaganda keeping the working class from revolting.
For me, it’s enough to consider the state of our hearts to realize how much more we need before this utopian vision comes to be. We may be extremely educated and creative but we still walk and drive by homeless people in the wealthiest country in the world. We still work for and consume the products of companies see nothing wrong with profiting from things universally obscene. Compared to our minds — our hearts have made little progress.
To be honest the chinese even study its raise up and have a long tv series about it — war is inevitable. Hence the peaceful raise of china is the slogan. They know you do not. Nearly 20 years of sending in students, researchers, 1000 person scheme etc. They win if it is not Xi, you may not even know until too late.
Probably not. The British century was built on the back of dead Germans and Russians containing Napoleonic France. The American century was built on the back of dead Russians and Western European ruins by Nazi Germany. If the third time's the charm, then the next Hegemon would be the faction that successfully minimise its own losses in a WW3, so either India or Europe(an Union).
Uighur separatists would gain significant leverage in their calls for autonomy/independence if billions of dollars of unguarded infrastructure are built across their land. Derailing a single piece of train track in the baron desert would cost pennies but yield perhaps millions in maintenance, insurance, and other costs to the Chinese state. This could be repeated dozens of times per day across a vast swathe of land.
This is why its easier for critical logistics node workers to unionize than other workers. If 50 workers in a port strike, the entire economy grinds to a halt. If 50 Walmart greeters strike, they get replaced by the same afternoon.
This post should not be considered an endorsement of the CCP's methods or goals by myself.
As it often happens to truly extreme moral bankrupcy (as opposed to just regular moral bankrupcy), this is position is self defeating. A victorious nazi Germany, leveraging its new resources after consolidating the gains in continental Europe, could have successfully invaded the UK.
Ease of doing business report only deals with formal legal requirements and paperwork, but running business is not only about law/tax compliance.
Access to labour, facilities, depth and readiness of local market to accept new things - all that matters.
I am not agreeing with assessment that legal compliance in USA is easier than in China at all. USA has hideously complex tax system, you can't do a single thing without a lawyer, and any dealing with securities is past all hope for a person who have not purposefully studied that.
Because you will be buying it for less than the cost of the equipment in that plant + some of the best talent + their domestic customer list thrown in for free.
Connections between neurons, the synapses, are encoded. So much so that they are given individual names. This is a fun one to read about to get an idea:
