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by iridium_core 1993 days ago
And the nations which are overtaking us - Taiwan, Korea, Japan, China - are the complete opposite of diverse. Perhaps diversity is not our strength?
6 comments

Good side effect of that is strong culture. It doesn't get diluted by diversity.

I can only imagine what it would have been like to travel to another country many decades ago before globalization and travel. Here is Tokyo 100 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQAmZ_kR8S8

The simplest of things - a tunic or a shirt is commoditized by the entire globe. Everyone on the whole globe just wears a shirt/pants. Each nation had their own attire and it was just normal to wear skirts in Scotland and suits in England, and kimonos in Japan. This was erased by globalism and diversity. It may be that shirt/pant combo is actually superior attire due to some particular measurable quantity, but I suspect it was because of English imperialism.

> Good side effect of that is strong culture. It doesn't get diluted by diversity.

Yeah, CCP is kinda working on that whole eliminating cultural diversity thing as we speak

I was thinking more on the lighter side - huge fan of Civilization, the game! Cultures are cool.
The ironic thing is that people who view East Asia's "non-diversity" positively also tend to be the same people who are vehemently against East Asian-style policy, such as: covid lockdown and mask mandates, more money on public education, single-payer healthcare, and no guns. In other words, if anyone strongly believes that there's any cultural advantage to East Asian countries (very debatable), America can be in a better position to compete by giving more power to minority voices.
You mean places that had the least to offer to any kind of migrant from the West during the period of European imperialism are also the least diverse? Setting aside the complicating factor of the West African slave trade as a factor of population displacement, color me surprised. This whole diversity thing just fell out of the sky over here.
How are they overtaking us again?
In depopulation. All have fertility well below replacement rate and negligible immigration.
China is very diverse place.
new zealand successfully contained the virus. they have extremely strict immigration policies..
They also have no land borders. Very easy to close borders when all it involves is closing airports and turning ships away. That's doubly true when you have no exports that are vital to the world economy.
Also, a country of the size of New Zealand is easier to control like a speed boat vs. US like a huge tanker. Ofcourse, if you put an authoritarian boosters on the tanker (China), its possible.

Just to put things in perspective, New Zealand's population is half of Silicon Valley / SF Bay Area.