Because AI software isn't ground breaking and is actually useless
this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2025
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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.
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.
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.
Eh, they seemed to have better access to new tech like phones, though most of that seems to have shifted to Korea these days.
Japan has been living in the year 2000 since 1980.
The last good year. Truly they are the most intellectually advanced society.
What happened after 2000 that made everythimg bad?
9/11
Social media maybe?
Social Media didn’t exist yet was all user groups, mailing list, irc, and AOL chat rooms. Would be another 4-5 years before they came onto the scene as we know it today
intellectually advanced society.
How do you even measure that?
Except no one can get laid apparently
And they're a bunch of xenophobic racists.
They have 2d waifus, who needs women?
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Same thing that happens everywhere. Low cost innovation gets expensive as companies grow and salaries rise, profit seekers move to exploit cheaper labor elsewhere.
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?
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?
anime
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.
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.
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
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Post nuke effect expired
If AI is the chief innovation in the US, then the US is massively fucked.
I'd much rather have a fancy shinkansen.
You seem to be implying an argument based on Modus tollens:
- If AI is the chief US innovation, then the US is massively fucked.
- The US is not massively fucked.
- 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.
I'm implying nothing. Some things are meant to be tongue-in-cheek.
llms and image generators alone are a tech that will change the world
They will and are changing it, to be sure. Whether those changes are positive remains to be seen.
That's a high speed train for the non-weebs
Arigathankyou
Gesundheit
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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.
Y'all are so jaded
No, we just don't mislabel foreign brain drain as American exceptionalism.
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