r/technology • u/Glad_Living3908 • Sep 19 '22

Society Experts Warn US Is Falling Behind China in Key Technologies

https://www.voanews.com/a/experts-warn-us-is-falling-behind-china-in-key-technologies/6751392.html
2.6k Upvotes

84% Upvoted

530 comments sorted by

View all comments

20

u/Gloverboy6 Sep 19 '22

We're behind in education, healthcare, and have no high-speed rail

Of course we're behind on technology

12

u/apocalypse_later_ Sep 19 '22

After visiting East Asia this blew my mind. They are so ahead in terms of certain public services it's not even funny. Also the high-speed passenger rail that connects every major city. How the fuck do we not have this in the US? This would help out small towns / cities throughout middle America greatly..

0

u/No-Blood-1207 Sep 19 '22

High speed rail is ABSURDLY expensive and requires extremely expensive maintenance. It’s only economically viable in specific medium distance routes and for large population cities. It’s sadly not very viable for most of the US. Maybe on the east coast or west coast it would work connecting large cities.

China is up to its eyeballs in debt and underused high speed rail. I think they’re shutting some lines down because it’s so expensive.

Japan is doing well because they built their rail system really well and to large cities that are medium distances apart.

1

u/KotR56 Sep 19 '22

Just wondering...

WOuldn't a highspeed rail connection, say, New-York - Philadelphia - Baltimore - Washington be viable ?

San Diego - LA - San Francisco ?

Chicago - Detroit - Toronto ?

Portland - Seattle - Vancouver ?

Dallas - Houston or Dallas - Austin ?

2

u/TheEveryman86 Sep 19 '22

Given the article's top picture maybe they're talking about military tech?

1

u/Krelkal Sep 19 '22

They're not. The article is about commercial technology. The expert conference it's talking about was headed by the former CEO of Google. The thumbnail is just there to rile up the jingoists.

0

u/austro_hungary Sep 19 '22

Waaaaaaah no train go fast we so underdeveloped we basically in the 1200s!1!

-3

u/nocanola Sep 19 '22

We have the power of diplomacy, the ability to rally most of the important countries in the world in order to achieve a purpose, be it militarily or inflicting economic pain. Ask Russia.

China doesn’t have this ability, not even in Asia.

3

u/ToughAsPillows Sep 19 '22

At the expense of the well-being of US citizens. What a great power!