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#1
Off the Record / Re: Grand unified books thread
Last post by Jacob - Today at 01:12:32 PMOh the party is already on it. I think it's mainly that their resources compared to the volume of material, and the nature of Chinese political criticism makes it very hard. Perhaps they can lean into AI (I expect they will), but it'll still be a challenge....
To give an example, Hebe (a Taiwanese pop star) posted a picture of herself eating pasta on her social media when Blinken first arrived in Shanghai. Online nationalists (not the gov't) reasoned:
Now, I don't think any of those consequences happened and there was no official reaction - but that's the shape of the discourse. You can bet that because of the furor, people will be using language referring to pasta to take the piss out of the Chinese government (and nationalists). It might be a brief flash in the pan, or it might stick around for a bit.
Symbolism, homonyms, and sly references are the mainstay of expressing dissent in public in China and it's ever evolving. If there are 24 million (and growing) titles - and there's all the discourse on social media - it's going to be non-trivial to keep on top of all of it - even with AI, I expect.
Incidentally, that was part of what was interesting to me in The Three-Body Problem - how the concerns about symbolism and the risk of being seen as critiquing the regime was a major influence on the plot during the Cultural Revolution.
To give an example, Hebe (a Taiwanese pop star) posted a picture of herself eating pasta on her social media when Blinken first arrived in Shanghai. Online nationalists (not the gov't) reasoned:
- Pasta is Italian.
- Nancy Pelosi is Italian(-American).
- Nancy Pelosi is very anti-China.
- Therefore Hebe is making an anti-China (and pro-Taiwanese independence) statement.
- Therefore Hebe's upcoming concerts in China should be cancelled, and some of her songs banned from play.
Now, I don't think any of those consequences happened and there was no official reaction - but that's the shape of the discourse. You can bet that because of the furor, people will be using language referring to pasta to take the piss out of the Chinese government (and nationalists). It might be a brief flash in the pan, or it might stick around for a bit.
Symbolism, homonyms, and sly references are the mainstay of expressing dissent in public in China and it's ever evolving. If there are 24 million (and growing) titles - and there's all the discourse on social media - it's going to be non-trivial to keep on top of all of it - even with AI, I expect.
Incidentally, that was part of what was interesting to me in The Three-Body Problem - how the concerns about symbolism and the risk of being seen as critiquing the regime was a major influence on the plot during the Cultural Revolution.
#3
Off the Record / Re: Elon Musk: Always A Douche
Last post by crazy canuck - Today at 12:45:39 PMQuote from: Oexmelin on Today at 12:38:06 PMQuote from: Jacob on Today at 12:28:06 PMElon has very much entered the :popcorn: phase from my point of view.
Enough hot air will make him burst?
Bad analogy, corn is made better when it bursts.
#4
Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...
Last post by crazy canuck - Today at 12:42:40 PMQuote from: Sheilbh on Today at 11:05:27 AMQuote from: crazy canuck on April 29, 2024, 04:58:20 PMI'm am still confused, who do you think the audience of that speech was?I looked it up - keynote address at dinner of Canada's "leading, independent, progressive" think tank of which he is also the board chair.
If it's flat at an audience that friendly and engaged, then it's not an issue of misjudging the audience/venue.
I think you are missing important context. This is an audience that is friendly to the Liberal party. Not to him. His purpose was to critique the recent budget. Had he done so using political rhetoric he would have received a very cold reception. He needed to deliver the message the way he did.
The other context you are missing is he was widely complimented in the newspapers for taking that stand. It would have been a lot easier for him to do as you suggest he should have done and given a rah rah political speech to adoring supporters. The fact he did not do that is a good, not a bad sign.
#5
Off the Record / Re: Elon Musk: Always A Douche
Last post by Oexmelin - Today at 12:38:06 PMQuote from: Jacob on Today at 12:28:06 PMElon has very much entered the :popcorn: phase from my point of view.
Enough hot air will make him burst?
#6
Off the Record / Re: Grand unified books thread
Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 12:36:24 PMYeah it's extraordinary I think the stats in this book (which will be out of date) is that online platforms in China have 24 million fiction titles and over 400 million subscribers. It's probably the largest literary ecosystem in the world - and it's run with metrics and popularity and also factory style conditions for writers who are expected to write up to 20-30,000 words a day to keep their story near the top, keep it moving.
Fair to say, from what I understand, it's not really noted for character development etc. It is quite repetitive and, from the description, it sounds a bit like grinding in a game. The character does the same thing many times and acquires more skills, powers etc (especially because a lot are fantasy stories, I beelieve).
There's really fascinating points from a Chinese critic about a cultural bourgeoisie (who turn culture into capital) v a cultural proletariat (who convert it into labour) - for example because of those TV shows with one of these platforms suddenly changing their terms to say that they (the platform) owned the IP rights of anything posted on their platform for the lifetime of the author plus fifty years. Obviously that caused a huge backlash which I think ultimately led to a climbdown from the platform.
I think you're probably definitely right that the relative freedom is why it's boomed - but I think its popularity probably makes it inevitable that the party will seek to control and manage that.
On the other hand another interesting online world, which was immediately policed, is poetry on platforms that aren't specifically literary often by migrant workers that can have millions of shares before its taken down - which is, again, probably the most important and read contemporary poetry in the world.
Fair to say, from what I understand, it's not really noted for character development etc. It is quite repetitive and, from the description, it sounds a bit like grinding in a game. The character does the same thing many times and acquires more skills, powers etc (especially because a lot are fantasy stories, I beelieve).
There's really fascinating points from a Chinese critic about a cultural bourgeoisie (who turn culture into capital) v a cultural proletariat (who convert it into labour) - for example because of those TV shows with one of these platforms suddenly changing their terms to say that they (the platform) owned the IP rights of anything posted on their platform for the lifetime of the author plus fifty years. Obviously that caused a huge backlash which I think ultimately led to a climbdown from the platform.
I think you're probably definitely right that the relative freedom is why it's boomed - but I think its popularity probably makes it inevitable that the party will seek to control and manage that.
On the other hand another interesting online world, which was immediately policed, is poetry on platforms that aren't specifically literary often by migrant workers that can have millions of shares before its taken down - which is, again, probably the most important and read contemporary poetry in the world.
#7
Off the Record / Re: Elon Musk: Always A Douche
Last post by Jacob - Today at 12:28:06 PMWhatever else you might say about Musk, he's definitely decisive.
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/tesla-consumed-by-chaos-as-key-senior-executives-leave-and-entire-teams-are-wiped-out-233153.html
It kind of reminds me of the way he swung his dick around at Twitter. I'm not convinced it has produced results that worked out for him, but I guess time will tell.
Elon has very much entered the :popcorn: phase from my point of view.
QuoteTesla Consumed by Chaos as Key Senior Executives Leave and Entire Teams Are Wiped Out
Tesla lost more senior executives this month than it probably did in its entire history before. After Drew Baglino and Rohan Patel, Martin Viecha announced his departure during the first quarter earnings call. It appears that Rebecca Tinucci, the chief of Tesla Charging Infrastructure, has also been dismissed along with the entire Supercharger team of 500 people reporting to her. Daniel Ho, the chief of new product introduction, has also been laid off after more than 10 years at Tesla.
The "wartime CEO" Elon Musk seems poised to dismantle Tesla piece by piece, starting with the senior management. Following a disastrous first quarter, Musk began a massive layoff plan, affecting more than 10% of Tesla's workforce. The headcount trimming was deemed necessary as Tesla's financials suffered heavily, but it appears more than that.
Elon Musk hinted at a new direction for the company, focusing on autonomous driving and robotaxis. All other programs except those related to AI and FSD are put on hold, and the departure of key senior executives suggested that Tesla will move away from manufacturing. In a very short time, Tesla lost Drew Baglino, its Senior VP of Powertrain and Energy, Rohan Patel, in charge of Tesla Policy and Bizdev, and Martin Viecha, VP of Investor Relations.
The senior executive hemorrhagic is not over yet, as a new round of layoffs shocked the Tesla community on Monday. This time, Rebecca Tinucci and Daniel Ho drew the short straw. Tinucci was the head of charging infrastructure at Tesla and was responsible for the successful Supercharger deployment and the NACS deals that transformed the industry. Not only her but also her entire Supercharger team of 500 people has been laid off in a move that left everyone scratching their heads.
Daniel Ho was Tesla's director of vehicle programs and new product introduction (NPI) and has been with the company for the past ten years. His departure may have to do with Tesla shelving plans for new vehicles. Just as with Tinucci's team, all people reporting to Ho have also been fired. Another team that was wiped out was Tesla's public policy team, led by Rohan Patel prior to his departure on April 14.
"Hopefully, these actions are making it clear that we need to be absolutely hardcore about headcount and cost reduction," Musk wrote in the email first revealed by The Information. "While some on exec staff are taking this seriously, most are not yet doing so. Starting at 10 AM EST on Tuesday, I will ask for the resignation of any executive who retains more than three people who don't obviously pass the excellent, necessary and trustworthy test... I have been super clear about this."
Elon Musk tries hard to turn Tesla from a carmaker into an AI company as its Full Self-Driving software makes strides. After Musk paid an unannounced visit to China to clear the way for FSD deployment in the country, Tesla's share prices rose by 15%. This was the first time software had pushed Tesla's valuation, validating Musk's view that Tesla is, indeed, an AI company. The move could be behind Musk's latest decisions that point to Tesla abandoning Supercharger expansion and new vehicle development.
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/tesla-consumed-by-chaos-as-key-senior-executives-leave-and-entire-teams-are-wiped-out-233153.html
It kind of reminds me of the way he swung his dick around at Twitter. I'm not convinced it has produced results that worked out for him, but I guess time will tell.
Elon has very much entered the :popcorn: phase from my point of view.
#8
Off the Record / Re: Grand unified books thread
Last post by Jacob - Today at 12:17:45 PMYeah, I have a bit of exposure to that world 2nd hand via my wife.
There's a massive massive ecosystem of online, serialized writing in all sorts of genres. It's pretty fascinating, and I think most Chinese fiction these days references that in some way. If the fiction isn't from that ecosystem, it still - I think - responds to it simply because that ecosystem is significant in shaping the tastes of the audience.
In some ways, there's a similar ecosystem (or multiple) in the West, but I think it's considered less culturally significant. Sure we have reams of online fan-fic or original self-published fiction, but it doesn't really go anywhere. In China, on the other hand, a large number of popular shows (and films) are based on popular online fiction series, which we don't really see in the West.
I speculate it might have something to do with the party's relative lack of control over online publishing, but I don't know.
Related by separate subtopic: One book I enjoyed (though not from that ecosystem, I don't think; I believe it predates it) is Death of a Red Heroine by Qui Xialong.
There's a massive massive ecosystem of online, serialized writing in all sorts of genres. It's pretty fascinating, and I think most Chinese fiction these days references that in some way. If the fiction isn't from that ecosystem, it still - I think - responds to it simply because that ecosystem is significant in shaping the tastes of the audience.
In some ways, there's a similar ecosystem (or multiple) in the West, but I think it's considered less culturally significant. Sure we have reams of online fan-fic or original self-published fiction, but it doesn't really go anywhere. In China, on the other hand, a large number of popular shows (and films) are based on popular online fiction series, which we don't really see in the West.
I speculate it might have something to do with the party's relative lack of control over online publishing, but I don't know.
Related by separate subtopic: One book I enjoyed (though not from that ecosystem, I don't think; I believe it predates it) is Death of a Red Heroine by Qui Xialong.
#9
Off the Record / Re: Grand unified books thread
Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 11:52:21 AMI think I've mentioned it before but The Subplot by Megan Walsh is really interesting. It's a very short book (about 100 pages) basically about what China is reading. It's not in-depth and I think it flags Three Body Problem as something raising interest in the West into contemporary Chinese writing.
But lots of interesting stuff about the 80s and 90s generration, books about urban life in China, online literature (which was eye-opening), Chinese crime novels (how do you do that in a Communist society?) as well as both trends of sci fi and historic-ish fiction. Really interesting.
But lots of interesting stuff about the 80s and 90s generration, books about urban life in China, online literature (which was eye-opening), Chinese crime novels (how do you do that in a Communist society?) as well as both trends of sci fi and historic-ish fiction. Really interesting.
#10
Off the Record / Re: Grand unified books thread
Last post by Jacob - Today at 11:45:58 AMYeah, the characterization was a bit archetypical or 2-dimensional in places.
The reason I found it compelling reading is that I saw it as a reflection of (Communist) contemporary China - both in terms of a critique and in terms of the concerns the novels were grounded in. I found that fascinating and it contributed to me having low confidence in my predictions of what happened next (which I value).
It's not that I loved the books so much that I want to read everything by that author, but the change of pace from familiar formulas (and references to formulas that I'm not familiar with - like Chinese online fiction) was part of the appeal for me, enough that less than multidimensional characters and the like became palatable.
The reason I found it compelling reading is that I saw it as a reflection of (Communist) contemporary China - both in terms of a critique and in terms of the concerns the novels were grounded in. I found that fascinating and it contributed to me having low confidence in my predictions of what happened next (which I value).
It's not that I loved the books so much that I want to read everything by that author, but the change of pace from familiar formulas (and references to formulas that I'm not familiar with - like Chinese online fiction) was part of the appeal for me, enough that less than multidimensional characters and the like became palatable.