Status Updates From The Rise and Fall of the EA...

* 2 ppl since CCP founding have “influenced” 5/6 successions: mao +
Deng. The sole one they didn’t was Xi
* tullock’s curse for autocracy successions
* most inventive period in Chinese history: Han-Sui interregnum (not tang + song). Inventiveness ⬇️ after 科举
* all but 1 successful Chinese tech company today have legal entities outside PRC

* 80s China was very different — more equal footing for politicians, open debates on TV in newspapers
* deng and his succession plan inadvertently set up Xi to centralize power 20 years later
* pre Sui: emperors and aristocrats were more equal, more violent depositions of premiers
* post Sui: emperors and aristocrats coexisted = stability
* emperors gamed keju to select for commoners at palace exams

* 科举 deprived china of its human capital and reinforced the autocracy
* M corps >> U corps. CCP is M corp and Soviet Union was U corp
* CCP has lasted so long bc it’s run as an organization not polity and there’s a degree of autonomy to its regional delegates
* literacy != technological breakthroughs. China always had higher literacy but limited impact bc the only use for literacy was Confucianism

So, there was a controversy in China about the adoption of 5G, because it was considered too costly and overhyped.

Here, in Romania, I have had a 5G phone for one year and it is not much better than the previous 4G (net speed, performance, etc.).

But, according to Huang, 5G is more useful for AI, self-driving cars, and such.

This book makes Keju feel like a character.