• pyre@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    dude had already swallowed the tech bs, thinks ai is the furthest advancement if technology when it can’t compete with ancient tech. literally can’t do what a calculator can do reliably. or a timer. or a calendar.

    • uranibaba@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      A calculator, timer or calendar can’t help me write an essay. You are comparing tools meant for different tasks. At least build your argumentets on something reasonable.

      • dustyData@lemmy.world
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        47 minutes ago

        Why argue with someone who isn’t intelligent enough to write their essays without mechanical assistance?

      • pyre@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        funny how it’s not “intelligent” enough to say “hey I don’t really do math” and instead feeds me bullshit that I have to correct and then it’ll say “oh yeah totally right sorry here’s the actual answer that I wouldn’t have given if you hadn’t corrected me as the one who asked the question”

        also your essay fucking sucks. learn to put together a coherent thought instead of relying on a glorified autocorrect that doesn’t have them at all to do it for you.

  • Panamalt@sh.itjust.works
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    7 hours ago

    Japan still generally places more emphasis on quality over shitting out shiny new, overpriced garbage as fast as possible

  • diverging@lemm.ee
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    8 hours ago

    Doc: “No wonder this circuit failed; it says ‘Made in Japan’.”
    Marty: “What do you mean, Doc? All the best stuff is made in Japan.”

      • Korhaka@sopuli.xyz
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        3 hours ago

        I think they had a poor reputation and then rapidly improved which led to their current reputation

        • superkret@feddit.org
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          42 minutes ago

          They started out like China, making cheaper copies of Western tech. Then they started to innovate.

          China is now on exactly the same path, and it’s well into the phase where they are innovating, but most people still refuse to acknowledge that.

      • TheEighthDoctor@lemmy.zip
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        4 hours ago

        Yes AI has good uses, it made my job faster, I can now focus on more important things because I’m not wasting time with bullshit that AI can do in a seccond.

        But you can’t say that on Lemmy, here it’s all useless, a scam and gave my dog AIDS.

        • uranibaba@lemmy.world
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          3 hours ago

          A lot of people here on Lemmy keeps saying that AI is bad because it failed one task it wasn’t built for. Or because it can’t do everything. I don’t get it.

          • lightsblinken@lemmy.world
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            2 hours ago

            maybe go for a “its bad because of the return on investment” angle? for the amount of literal billions we have thrown at it, perhaps its ok to expect more. if you gave me a mere couple of billion, i’d make healthy lunches for school kids to foster education and health outcomes (2-4-1!)

  • hobovision@lemm.ee
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    18 hours ago

    The idea that Japan was ever more technologically advanced than the US is a tough argument to make. Perhaps they had better consumer and transportation technologies, but the US led the world in nearly all other forms of technology (see silicon valley, NASA, US defense technology, etc). It’s cool the hate on the US but there’s a reason it was the world super power for decades. It’s too bad it’s turning into an anti-science christo-facist kelptocracy.

    • superkret@feddit.org
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      38 minutes ago

      The tech for silicon valley comes from Asia. You literally couldn’t build a chip factory in the US right now, the know-how doesn’t exist there anymore.
      So the US is leading the world in writing code and building long tubes spewing hot gas out of one end.

    • pyre@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      to be fair it’s always been a kleptocracy. literally founded on stolen land, with stolen labor. even after emancipation it kept the stolen labor tradition alive til now with increasing intensity.

        • pyre@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          different degrees, but yeah pretty much all land has been taken by force. still is. the difference is how though.

      • Surp@lemmy.world
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        24 minutes ago

        You go back far enough and you’ll find every country did horrible things or stolelands or killed half their citizens etc.

    • shikitohno@lemm.ee
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      12 hours ago

      I think it’s mostly that they did way better than the US in terms of making many consumer technology products widely available at a higher quality and better cost than the US did. Like, Japanese brands were huge for televisions, audio equipment and similar goods. I can think of several that were the go to brands for TVs when I was growing up, but I can’t think of a single US-based manufacturer, even a crappy one.

      They also did way better in terms of building out internet access and public transport than the US has done.

      It might only be within a few limited sectors, but when those sectors account for the vast majority of peoples’ interactions with technology, it’s going to have a far greater impact on their perceptions of relative advancement.

      Also, in the pre-internet days, it probably helped that non-Japanese people largely didn’t see all the ways that Japan can be an extremely conservative country, like their reliance on fax machines long after pretty much every other country with the means to do so had almost entirely left them behind as obsolete.

      • A7thStone@lemmy.world
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        10 hours ago

        RCA, Westinghouse, and Zenith used to be big American TV manufacturers. Westinghouse and zenith were the cheaper brands, but RCA used to make some high end models.

        • shikitohno@lemm.ee
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          7 hours ago

          I mean, I know there had to have been some, but 2/3 of those are out of business and weren’t competitive with their Japanese rivals, while Zenith’s most recent “notable product” on Wikipedia dates from the 1970s and has been a subsidiary of a Korean company for nearly 30 years.

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    24 hours ago

    Same thing that happens everywhere. Low cost innovation gets expensive as companies grow and salaries rise, profit seekers move to exploit cheaper labor elsewhere.

    • Trollception@sh.itjust.works
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      19 hours ago

      That still hasn’t happened in the US though. Hardware is produced overseas but a huge chunk of the most used software in the world is produced in the US. The chips are designed in the US, some produced here but most overseas. Does that only apply to manufacturing?

      • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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        16 hours ago

        Still hasn’t happened in the US? You choose a single industry as an indicator to base a claim on the state of US industry vs vast manufacturing losses the US has faced over the last 50 years?

  • ImplyingImplications
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    1 day ago

    Economics Explained has an interesting video on the topic. After WWII, Japan became the first country in Asia to undergo an industrial revolution and soon became the second largest economy after the US and was by many accounts set to match or even overtake the US. They then suffered an economic collapse due to unchecked growth and speculative markets and decided to never again speculate on the future and just stick to tried and true methods.

    Since the 1990s, Japan’s economy has barely changed while other nations have seen huge growth. You’d assume that would mean Japan is now far behind, but they aren’t. They seem to have mastered keeping everything the same for decades without the normal decline that comes with it.

    • Dr. Moose@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      I spend at least a month in Japan every year and the tech there is great for the most part. All of the critical parts infrastructure tech is brilliant and incredibly stable.

      The lack of risk taking is very noticeable though especially when it comes to contemporary software and UX. There just so much broken tech because everything moves so slowly - for example to pick up a reserved train tickets you need to bring the same physical card you made you payment with and thats the only way. So if you used a virtual card or forgot your card at home you’re screwed.

    • Phoenixz
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      21 hours ago

      And that, actually, is a great thing. You don’t want explosive growth, you want stability. This is a lesson the US is learning right now

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      21 hours ago

      After WWII, Japan became the first country in Asia to undergo an industrial revolution

      After WW2? Industrialization during the 20s/30s was the whole reason they attempted to conqueror the Oceanic island states and the Chinese/Korean/Indochinese mainland.

      They then suffered an economic collapse due to unchecked growth and speculative markets and decided to never again speculate on the future and just stick to tried and true methods.

      The Japanese Economy was undone by The Plaza Accord and The Louvre Accord, which western nations used to devalue their currency and undermine Japanese export prices. The downturn, followed by a financialized corporate consolidation and expropriation of revenues through foreign investment, permanently crippled the Japanese economy in the aftermath of the 90s Asian recession.

      What sets countries like Japan, Korea, and the Philippines apart from China is the domestic control of their industries. Their markets are dominated by private equity and fixated on steady profit margins rather than long term public investments. Consequently, the capital cities are flooded with cash and industrial development while the rural areas are devoid of commerce. There’s no shortage of speculation, but its rooted in the private equity markets and focused largely on fictitious capital - debt instruments and their derivatives - rather than real capital or technology.

      Chinese investment in the periphery and its rising tide of middle class wage earners is what propels them into the 21st century. They’re the ones building out new transit lines, new public housing projects, new universities, and blue sky research. The Xi Government is openly hostile to speculative investment, doesn’t bother to bail out failing financial institutions, and focuses primarily on expansion of utilities, trade corridors, and mixed us developments.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      24 hours ago

      Honestly, sounds great to me. I know they’ve had “issues” (is it really an issue for me if my money becomes more valuable?) with deflation, but I’d be OK with that if it meant no more speculation.

      • tetris11@lemmy.ml
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        1 day ago

        They’ll survive it, their markets and investments aren’t overvalued like ours are. They’ll crash, re-evaluate their societal priorities, and start to build again

      • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        No, they’re absolutely not. Their GDP will majorly decline, but their QOL will stay the same or even improve and their GDP per capita also won’t see much change.

        Birtherism is bullshit.

        • Shard@lemmy.world
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          9 hours ago

          I’m interested to know how you believe the elderly will be cared for? Let’s assume for a moment they have no issues financially supporting the elderly, but physically who is supposed to care for them? Who will make up the nurses, doctors and caretakers now that their population pyramid looks like a chicken drumstick?

          • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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            6 hours ago

            Japan has a large amount of unused labor in the current demographic breakup of 29% elderly, Japan has a large number of educated inviduals, and Japan has a large amount of capital even without infinite growth shenanigans.

            Any failure to take care elderly even at 38% or even 50% would be a failure of the state as a result of greed or corruption. It’s a relatively simple task to accomplish. The year is 2025, automation replaced most other jobs a long long time ago.

        • RowRowRowYourBot@sh.itjust.works
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          1 day ago

          Their nation needs tax revenue. That depends on having people to tax. If the population declines too much they cannot afford to maintain social services and QoL will decline.

          None of this is particularly controversial or surprising.

          • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            The services’ costs are dependent on the number of recipients. They’re already in the slump of elderly being a drain on the system, it can only get better not worse.

            The only concern of the population decline that I can see is the decrease in funding available for Military Expenses.

            And, if things get really bad, all they have to do is open up for immigration and able bodied workers will magically appear.

              • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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                23 hours ago

                If Generation A has a higher number of people than Generation B then when Generation A dies off there will be a lower number of elderly. It’s a temporary slump. It might last a decade or more, but it is temporary.

                According to your source the Percentage of people aged over 65 peaks in 2042 or 2043 at about 38% if the government does nothing, compared to the 29.6% currently.

                Right now a lot of skilled workers are fleeing to the EU, so Japan could totally capitalize on that. Or it can just educate its population to be skilled labor and give all the low skilled labor (if that even exists) to immigrants. Immigrants work hard for lower wages and are less prone to crime, there is no good faith argument against that.

                • RowRowRowYourBot@sh.itjust.works
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                  23 hours ago

                  The projected population of elderly people is projected to be 40% of the total population within 50 years unless substantial shifts happen. They are not replacing workers fast enough.

                  Japan has never wanted more immigrants and soon they will need a LOT of immigrants. Japan’s traditional xenophobia might prevent them for getting enough people.

      • Cait@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 day ago

        That’d require significant societal change to an environment where having children is actually manageable

  • circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 day ago

    If AI is the chief innovation in the US, then the US is massively fucked.

    I’d much rather have a fancy shinkansen.

    • weker01@sh.itjust.works
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      11 hours ago

      You seem to be implying an argument based on Modus tollens:

      1. If AI is the chief US innovation, then the US is massively fucked.
      2. The US is not massively fucked.
      3. Ergo, AI is not the chief US innovation.

      Well I disagree with the premise 2:

      The US is massively fucked.

      With that, no conclusion can be gained from premise 1.

    • Trollception@sh.itjust.works
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      19 hours ago

      No, AI is one of the chief innovations which is a huge money maker. Don’t forget the US still dominates the enterprise server market which is worth trillions. Processors and GPUs are still designed and some manufactured here. Innovation comes in all shapes and sizes, AI is just the latest buzz.

  • masterspace
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    1 day ago

    The US isn’t innovating jack shit.

    The US just created a massively polarized and unequal society so that when a country creates a new brilliant researcher or innovation, an American company can buy them out.

    Basically, the insane poverty and lack of government services that the average American experiences gives them enough cash to buy up innovative people, companies, and competitors.

    • alvvayson@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 day ago

      Also the post-WW2 world order heavily favours their economy.

      Their allies buy their debt, and their weapons. They give access to theiir markets to US companies, and support US wars around the world. They invest in the US economy in an unbalanced way that favours the US economy.

      And all of this was in exchange for US security.

    • JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Innovate people, companies, and competitors

      And quickly turn them complacent. I work at a Japanese company, and the amount of times I see an amazing Japanese expat turn into a busybody is insane. We have crafted the perfect “fuck your idea just do your job” culture

      • masterspace
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        18 hours ago

        No, we just don’t mislabel foreign brain drain as American exceptionalism.

  • SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today
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    1 day ago

    Sadly Japan may be a culture in decline.
    Their culture is basically work yourself to the bone even more than the US. Young people study their ass off and get a job working long hours while still living at home because they still can’t afford their own place. And you have stuff like if the subway is a minute late they hand out apology slips to workers so they don’t get in trouble with their bosses for being 30 seconds late. Meanwhile there is a very strong ‘defer to elder authority’ note in their culture. And in many industries people are expected to work a 10-hour day and then go drinking with the bus until 2:00 a.m. only to be back at work the next day at 8:00 a.m.
    The end result is young people have neither the time nor the money to have kids. So they don’t.

    Their population is literally aging and shrinking. They are facing a very serious problem in wondering who is going to take care of their elderly. Their birth to death ratio is 0.44, meaning that for every baby born in a year more than two people die. In a nation of about 125 million, the population is shrinking by just under a million every year. That’s not good.

    And while the Japanese people are highly educated and very capable, the ‘defer to authority’ culture prevents the sort of entrepreneurship you see in the US. An example of this, Japanese companies have a stamp called the hanko, when a paper memo is circulated around the office each employee stamps it with their personal hanko stamp to signify that they have read it. Many Japanese companies stayed in person during COVID simply because there was no digital equivalent to the hanko and managers refused to give it up.

    If you wants an example, look at Toyota Motors. It’s been obvious to everyone with eyes that electric vehicles are the future, and it has been obvious for probably 8 or 10 years. Every major automaker is investing in EV technology. Except Toyota, which up until recently was still betting the farm on hybrids and hydrogen. But that’s because the good Mr Toyoda didn’t like EVs, and unlike in an American company no one would dare challenge him on that.

    It is really too bad. Japan is a wonderful place with an amazing culture and rich history. But if they are going to survive they need to make very serious changes to their society and they need to do it soon. That is going to involve dumping most of what currently qualifies as Japanese business culture, an instituting some real work-life balance laws with teeth. I don’t know if they’re going to do it.

    • db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      22 hours ago

      The most fascinating thing about their extreme “defer to authority” attitute, is the appearance of the “angry american” phenomenon, which is just a japanese-speaking white dude employee, which is literally there to voice the staff grievances and suggestions to the boss, without anyone japanese having to lose face. Literally the reinvention of the court jester in modern times!

    • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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      22 hours ago

      This is a good summary, but I think it misses another big point. The country is super racist. They don’t allow enough immigration to offset demographic issues. They also don’t get any other benefits of immigration like cultural changes that could actually help companies be more adaptable, or maybe trying something different than the exact same thing for 100 years is a good idea.

  • jqubed@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Maybe Japan is so advanced it already moved past the overhyped generative “AI” and that’s why we haven’t heard anything about it