Blockchain Chicken Farm

A lot of the book is Wang's political pontifications. The reports from China are interesting, the political ramblings unreadable. I couldn't finish it.

They traveled to location related to new technology (mostly ML and blockchain). Those parts are reasonably researched and summarised, and read like something from Wired or Vox. If that was the only content the book would be good. Sadly, it isn't.

Politically, they display all the maturity of a 14 years old. For example they give an anedocte about some tech guy in silicon valley awkwardly hitting on them as proof of the failings of technology. But how can anyone draw any meaningful conclusions from that single episode? And even if one could, how would the conclusions be relevant to the tech scene in China...

A lot of the quotes and discussion in their ramblings are not relevat at all to the subject matter. For example, they quote extensively from post-colonial female philosphers like Sylvia Wynter and others. But what has European colonialism and the black diaspora got to do with modern China's tech scene? The author just wanted you to read their rants. Not interested.

technology #society

Beim lesen hatte ich die ganze Zeit das Gefühl, dass das Buch als Dokumentation für einen Streaminganbieter mir viel mehr gegeben hätte. Obwohl die Beschreibungen der verschiedenen Orte, die besucht werden, sehr gut sind, will ich die ganze Zeit mehr sehen.

Das ländliche China ist wahrscheinlich hier in Deutschland nur ein Mythos und wie bei vielen Mythen entspringt auch sehr viel der Fantasie. Dieses Buch zeigt anhand von Beispielen, wie die Dörfer vom Staat oder vielmehr den Konzernen ans Internet angeschlossen werden und was das für sie bedeutet.

Es sind viele Interviews mit verschiedenen Personen und eigene Erzählungen von Xiaowei Wang, die versuchen, mit dem Mythos aufzuräumen.

Gleichzeitig wird immer wieder mit einem vergleichenden Schwenk zu den USA die Beziehung beider Länder zueinander beleuchtet.

Mir hat es sehr gut gefallen, da mir wieder selber bewusst wurde, wie viel mein Wissen über China eher auf Mythen basiert und ich unbedingt nacharbeiten muss.

First and foremost, this book is beautifully written. Xiaowei Wang's style of writing is probably one of the most comforting aspects about their work, especially considering the topic at hand. It also kind of helps embody the difficulty of the subject, highlighting the nuances rather than the binary discussion that often happens (tech good vs. tech bad).

But it also helps put a lot into perspective. Part of this is through showing how China and the US aren't all that different with regards to capitalism (despite what we may be led to believe), even though it may present in different forms. Part of it is through explaining so much about technology that both feels absurd and showing how it's manufacturing spaces. And more than that, they explain how the systems in the US and in China converge and impact each other.

It's hard to put a lot of it into words. This book is fantastic.