Re:A Swede Returns to Silicon Valley from China
by nilspihl on Wednesday August 03, 2016 @11:09AM
(#12218471)
Haha yeah we get a lot of those here, but less so than places like Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong. I plead not guilty, for what it is worth, but I understand if you find that unconvincing. Perhaps I do have some rose-tinted glasses that make me partial to places that feel like frontiers, but being excited about the unknown and the future is not the same as being excited about ninjas and tentacle porn.
Re:A Swede Returns to Silicon Valley from China
by salmon30salmon on Wednesday August 03, 2016 @11:59AM
(#12218892)
The problem is, you are ignoring the very real social and political problems in China, either because they are hidden from your view or they do not impact people like you. San Francisco has social problems, but they let their social problems live on the street, as opposed to jailing them and beating them.
It seems that you prefer a world where social problems, mental illness and poverty are hidden from your view by an ethereal force. That is fine, you can live in that pleasant fiction, but don't for a single minute pretend that beating and jailing the homeless is utopia, or that Beijing is anything other than that.
Re:A Swede Returns to Silicon Valley from China
by ersii on Thursday August 04, 2016 @03:00AM
(#12223896)
> a world where social problems, mental illness and poverty are hidden from your view by an ethereal force.
To be fair, he did disclaim at the top of the article by mentioning that he's from Sweden.
It is not like Sweden has solved any of these problems either, it's just quite well hidden from plain sight - as you mentioned in a more eloquent way.
Re:A Swede Returns to Silicon Valley from China
by stevenwiles on Wednesday August 03, 2016 @04:11PM
(#12221102)
> Perhaps I do have some rose-tinted glasses
Yes, that would be your enormous wealth that is tinting your view. If you weren't rich, I guarantee your experience would be different.
Re:A Swede Returns to Silicon Valley from China
by magic_beans on Wednesday August 03, 2016 @02:33PM
(#12220302)
Could not agree more.
I really think he's the kind of guy who fetishizes the exotic. Old school geeks did this with Japanese culture, Japanese media, Japanese women, etc for decades and it was more than a little embarrassing. Its all vaguely racist or at least insensitive and has a "grass is greener" feel to it. China, and to a lesser extent, Korea, are the new Japan for geeky males.
China has a great deal of social problems (many of which are long solved in the West), but I imagine someone with a pocket full of USD, which go very far in China, a white face, and an EU password is immune to it all. The suffering and human rights issues of the locals is just an abstract given to him. Yet somehow the homeless issue in SF is very concrete to him.
I really think this article shows off a questionable brand of millennial economic tourism and is more interesting from that perspective.