this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2025
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No Stupid Questions

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it's like you believe you can tariff them expecting they won't do the same. Why do you believe the rest of the world is not going to retaliate and why do you believe America can prosper without the rest of the world?

What's the point of having a military alliance with countries you puts tariffs on? That's unfriendly to say the least.

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[–] surph_ninja -1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

I’m gonna make this real simple for you: If you do not control capital, you are a laborer under capitalists. Yes, that includes white collar engineers and scientists- not simply blue collar assembly line workers.

We don’t even need to speak in hypotheticals. Just look at the engineers brought in for big tech under h1b’s. We have people here who can do this work. They would prefer to import the labor under one of these programs, because it makes them easier to exploit, and afraid to quit abusive employers.

You are so thoroughly indoctrinated, you can’t seem to separate capitalist propaganda from reality.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

Nah. I get it, but no.

We have people here who can do this work

This is the one thing you keep missing. We don't have people here who can do the work. Straight up. All the big players send their engineers to learn from TSMC for a reason. Of all the labor, of all the capital, these people are the exceptions to every rule.

Capitalists went to extreme lengths to win the nuclear arms race. They will go to the same lengths to keep winning the digital arms race too. These engineers will never be billionaires on their brains alone - because you're right, they do not own the capital - but they do have a significantly higher value than any other laborers in the eyes of capitalists and therefore will never be deported to a rival.

[–] surph_ninja 0 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

So to clarify, you do not believe US engineers could ever do this? Why do you believe this is a skillset that only exists in Taiwan?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

For the same reason the world believes it - because its true. They are the cutting edge. Other engineers can take over in the same way that other scientists could have taken over the Apollo program. It's possible, but it takes time, money, effort, and luck, and in the meantime the other nation(s) will land on the moon first.

All of the other companies are actively trying to beat TSMC and losing. Computer chips are the rocket engines of the digital age.

[–] surph_ninja 0 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (2 children)

You’re dodging the question. Why do you believe they’re beating us?

I personally believe it’s due to lack of public investment in education and technology in western countries. But the fact that you keep coming back to eugenics-themed arguments is concerning. So again, why do you think it is they’re beating us?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I personally believe it’s due to lack of public investment in education and technology in western countries.

And you are correct, but why do you assume there's any eugenics-themed arguments above? There is nothing of the sort. Everything the other poster says is completely compatible with Taiwan investing in education and technology that the US failed to do.

[–] surph_ninja 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

I get that impression because of the projections that my preference for US citizens to get the jobs in the US is somehow xenophobic, the references to Project Paperclip, and the insistence that these jobs can only possibly be filled by importing exploitable labor instead of getting people educated & trained here.

It’s been clear for decades that we needed this talent developed here in the states. They’ve been pushing the chips act for years, with building the factories expected to take years after passing. In all that time, we can’t get the people trained here? Bullshit.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Eugenics themed? Lmfao what?

I'm not saying they're naturally smarter than other people lol. It has nothing to do with genetics. The answer to "why are they winning the race" isn't simple, and the answer to "how can the US surpass them" could fill a novel and still not provide a clear answer. They're beating everyone, not just America, and a lot of it comes down to chance and circumstance.

[–] surph_ninja 0 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

“Chance and circumstances” is either doubling down on the eugenics theme, or you’re just opposed to increased investments in education and training.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Lmfao what is this conversation? Seriously, what is this with calling me a eugenicist? You really need to go actually learn about the topic at hand. The "chance and circumstance" isn't birth or genetics lol it's, like, the chance of Einstein being bored at the patent office.

Chip fabrication is literally the place where global market forces are actively working to cut corners on the fundamental structure of reality. These people shave off nanometers between semiconductors while stopping electrons from hopping the gap between one atom to another. You can't just "hard work" past them. They're not like "naturally" better, they're just currently winning a very challenging race, and it will take time for anyone else to catch up.

[–] surph_ninja 0 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

No, not time. Investments in public education and technology. We’d already have a crop of grads ready to go, if we’d have been training for as long as Congress has been trying to import the labor instead.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I don't know if you know how education works, but it takes time lol. But more importantly, they're beating countries that do invest much more heavily in education. They're beating everyone.

Like, sure. Yes. We agree. We should invest more in education for a lot of reasons... but guess what? Chip fabrication on their level isn't a college course, it's cutting edge institutional knowledge. They are the best of the best in chip fabrication right now. And if you want to provide Americans with the best education, you bring over the best of the best in the field, no?

[–] surph_ninja 1 points 1 hour ago

They’re not bringing them in to train US workers. They’re bringing them in to work.

You don’t have to start training them to manufacture chips in kindergarten. And in the time they’ve spent lobbying for importing the workers, we’d have had years to train up our own. Now that would make the chips more expensive to properly pay US workers to do it, for sure, and cut into profits. Which is really why this is about.