• GrouchyGrouse [he/him]
    hexbear
    62
    16 days ago

    "China bad"

    I wonder if it was like this back when the USSR was a thing.

    • itappearsthat [he/him]
      hexagon
      hexbear
      72
      edit-2
      16 days ago

      It was, on the other hand it made the undeniable achievement of sputnik deeply traumatizing to the american elite psyche. The only response they could muster was a kind of unhinged shrieking. Honestly I don't think that will ever be topped in US history; per wikipedia on the sputnik crisis:

      This created a crisis reaction in national newspapers such as The New York Times, which mentioned the satellite in 279 articles between October 6, 1957, and October 31, 1957 (more than 11 articles per day).

      • emizeko [they/them]
        hexbear
        58
        16 days ago

        China's on a trajectory to make the same kind of technological breakthrough, imagine the panic if China suddenly demonstrated a room-temperature semiconductor with low energy requirements or, I dunno, zero point energy

        • Washburn [she/her]
          hexbear
          48
          16 days ago

          I can't wait to see the reaction even when the Chinese space program puts someone on the moon for the first time in 50 years, while the US is just giving blank checks to Elon Musk, Boeing, and Lockheed.

            • Pentacat [he/him]
              hexbear
              23
              16 days ago

              As a bonus, it would remove all the submarine’s unwanted hair.

            • Smeagolicious [they/them]
              hexbear
              15
              16 days ago

              So am I missing something fundamental? Silent or stealth supercavitation propulsion seems extremely difficult just by its nature of creating constant explosions lol, but I am a complete layperson. I did read the take that it could be considered stealth by virtue of simply moving fast enough to use its own propulsion signature as a mask? Genuinely curious, the project sounds really cool

              • Awoo [she/her]
                hexbear
                10
                16 days ago

                Isn't the point that this is removing all moving parts of the submarine? No mechanical pieces, no engine (it's nuclear), no propellor, no jet. Replaced with laser.

                It won't be completely soundless, you're always going to make some sort of sound based on displacing water. But any reduction on existing methods is going to make objects that are already incredibly hard to detect even harder.

                • Smeagolicious [they/them]
                  hexbear
                  6
                  edit-2
                  16 days ago

                  That's what I thought as well, I just wasn't sure if it balanced out against a cavitation based propulsion system - maybe it does(!), but idk lol. I just assumed it would be relatively easy to detect via sonar but with a very different profile obv.

                  Edit*: then again, we are comparing the volume of cavitation vs a conventional submarine drive system. Could very well be that the conventional engine with more moving components is just straight up louder than bubble explosions >.>

          • Tankiedesantski [he/him]
            hexbear
            34
            16 days ago

            The reaction will be incredibly racist, almost certainly starting with denial, then allegations of copying, and ending with sour grapes.

        • Tankiedesantski [he/him]
          hexbear
          40
          16 days ago

          I think Huawei 5G was a mini-Sputnik Moment. China leapfrogged the US in a crucial future technology and went global with it. Key difference here is that the US spun up its science and tech sector to try to keep up with the USSR, whereas now the US is just using lawfare and sanctions to keep Chinese 5G from spreading.

          • Des [she/her, they/them]
            hexbear
            16
            16 days ago

            i'm Chinas number 1 booster for this scenario and i can't wait

            break my mind BAYBEE

      • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]
        hexbear
        34
        16 days ago

        Holy fuck and they had to plink that out on old typewriters. The coffee and cigarettes that fueled that binge.

    • Maoo [none/use name]
      hexbear
      37
      16 days ago

      The Parenti quote about the US media spinning every event in the USSR as devious and malevolent is relevant.

  • Sickos [they/them, it/its]
    hexbear
    51
    16 days ago

    Ever-relevant Sartre quote

    Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.

    • panned_cakes [none/use name]
      hexbear
      32
      16 days ago

      They're just passing around verbal cudgels and they visibly delight in people taking them seriously. You can kind of skip to an issue that will make them lose their shit though, and the facade will drop. Zionists don't like hearing anything that makes them feel less powerful or competent, they are deeply insecure and ready to book it across the Atlantic.

    • holygon [he/him, comrade/them]
      hexbear
      9
      edit-2
      16 days ago

      Do you know where this quote is from? I'm having a hard time finding it, but would love to read more.

      Edit: Found the source right after typing this haha. It's "Anti-Semite and Jew: An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate" by Jean-Paul Sartre. Here is a PDF. It's on Page 13 of the book (Page 36 of the PDF)

      • robinnn [he/him]
        hexbear
        13
        16 days ago

        Anti-Semite and Jew: An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate (1944)