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by softwaredoug·28d ago·view on hn ↗
It feels like an inflection point of lost US leadership in technology? A year plus ago you would say while China led in green energy and manufacturing, at least the US was ahead in software - as demonstrated by the state of US AI models.

We could point at a lot of factors on the US side. From political paralysis / head-in-the-sand attitudes towards emerging tech like green energy. To something of disdain for workers that will be impacted by AI (creating a backlash). To education that continues to lag. Add to this so many other self-inflicted economic wounds from the current administration.

I don't know if its nearly as terminal, as say the UK after WW2. The US is still large, wealthy, and resource rich. Yet at a minimum the triumphalism about US leadership after Trump was elected by the tech elite feels silly in retrospect.

Something I also think about is how much stronger The West overall would be if instead of antagonizing allies, there was a single ecosystem working closer together.

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> We could point at a lot of factors on the US side.

It's just lack of antitrust enforcement.

China pours money into tons of different businesses in the same industry and lets them fight it out. The only US business model left now is to shut down (or collude with) competitors and raise prices while cutting costs. All they have to do is cut Congress (and regulators, and individual judges) in. We've financialized everything for the sake of scammers, rather that finance being used for the sake of getting cash to the most productive organizations. We've optimized for corruption.

If we hadn't let the stupidest people in the world buy up everything, and made doing nothing with it the most profitable option, China would have never have blown past us.

The US Supreme Court has explicitly legalized "tipping" politicians. That's the biggest sign of degeneracy that a government could possibly achieve.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snyder_v._United_States