Aug 27, 2022·edited Aug 27, 2022Liked by Edi Obiakpani-Reid
Yes, there is authoritarianism in China. It can push the building of great dams and bridges. It can fuel stunning new technology-at a price that almost any human can afford it. What good are the cameras on an iphone without the ability to use or afford the beautiful screen?
I looked at the recent photos of Chunking. The Yangtze is drying up. The forests are burning, the relentless rows of skyscraper apartments may or may not now have power.
But still, in America, with fewer people than China had a century ago, and with our our own centrifugal forces hurtling near to destroying our great experiment, China's ability to maneuver something like stability when people are nearly stumbling over each other...well, it is a thing of wonderment.
And something we Americans need to be cognizant of.
Segue: Of all Chinese leaders of the 20th Century I would like to meet Zhou En-lai most. think he best personifies the spirit that makes China great today.
Another interesting and thought provoking article. Your final statement is pretty grim. Since they have never really tried to interact with the world much outside their own borders until recently it seems like they realize (maybe in a globalist way) that their own existence relies on having functional cooperative relationships with the other nations on the earth. From the individual up to the national level there seems to be a spectrum of outlook, either you think we have succeeded as a species because we cooperate or at the heart of all human endeavor is just self preservation even if it means harming the other. If there should ever be a legitimate collapse of human civilization I would be curious to see which end of the spectrum humanity finally decides to be the driving force. But historically China has been pretty standoffish and not like a nation that would destroy another country to get the resources it needs to survive. But it never had 1.4 billion people before in a world that is also crowded and struggling for shares of resources.
I agree that China is in a unique situation in terms of population size and resource scarcity. I think China has interacted with other countries in the past, but it's always been selective, and usually on China's terms. I think an exception would be their heavy reliance on the Soviet Union during the 1950s to get the economy up and running. I don't think they would deliberately harm another country to sustain themselves, but if there was collateral damage in the way to their goals then they wouldn't hesitate. I could be being overly pessimistic though!
Yes, there is authoritarianism in China. It can push the building of great dams and bridges. It can fuel stunning new technology-at a price that almost any human can afford it. What good are the cameras on an iphone without the ability to use or afford the beautiful screen?
I looked at the recent photos of Chunking. The Yangtze is drying up. The forests are burning, the relentless rows of skyscraper apartments may or may not now have power.
But still, in America, with fewer people than China had a century ago, and with our our own centrifugal forces hurtling near to destroying our great experiment, China's ability to maneuver something like stability when people are nearly stumbling over each other...well, it is a thing of wonderment.
And something we Americans need to be cognizant of.
Segue: Of all Chinese leaders of the 20th Century I would like to meet Zhou En-lai most. think he best personifies the spirit that makes China great today.
[Original post truncated].
Another interesting and thought provoking article. Your final statement is pretty grim. Since they have never really tried to interact with the world much outside their own borders until recently it seems like they realize (maybe in a globalist way) that their own existence relies on having functional cooperative relationships with the other nations on the earth. From the individual up to the national level there seems to be a spectrum of outlook, either you think we have succeeded as a species because we cooperate or at the heart of all human endeavor is just self preservation even if it means harming the other. If there should ever be a legitimate collapse of human civilization I would be curious to see which end of the spectrum humanity finally decides to be the driving force. But historically China has been pretty standoffish and not like a nation that would destroy another country to get the resources it needs to survive. But it never had 1.4 billion people before in a world that is also crowded and struggling for shares of resources.
I agree that China is in a unique situation in terms of population size and resource scarcity. I think China has interacted with other countries in the past, but it's always been selective, and usually on China's terms. I think an exception would be their heavy reliance on the Soviet Union during the 1950s to get the economy up and running. I don't think they would deliberately harm another country to sustain themselves, but if there was collateral damage in the way to their goals then they wouldn't hesitate. I could be being overly pessimistic though!