r/interestingasfuck • u/Red_Lotus_Alchemist • 1d ago
/r/all A Chinese earthquake rescue team deployed drones to light up the night and aid search and rescue operations after the devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Myanmar.
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u/boteco 1d ago
Drone with cables! Crazy simple idea,
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u/karateninjazombie 1d ago edited 21h ago
It's called a teather drone. The most common idea I've heard bandied about in drone circles is uses in event security.
I like the search and rescue lights idea. They could put thermal cameras somewhere or too for other types of s&r operations too.
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u/bnlf 1d ago
There are drones used by fire department connected to water as well to help put out fire on high buildings.
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u/s1ugg0 1d ago edited 23h ago
Drones being used for putting water on a fire in a meaningful way is a LONG way off.
The first problem is weight. Water weighs 8.34 lbs per gallon. The smallest attack line we use is 1.75 inch hose line. A single section of 50 feet of a 1.75 attack line weighs 70lbs when charged with water. We often use many sections because 50 feet is a lot shorter than it sounds. Plus it would have to counter the recoil of the nozzle. There are helicopters that would struggle to do that.
The second problem is friction loss. The higher you go and the more hose you deploy the harder the pump has to work to maintain flow rate. Which can quickly over come even our massive pumps. It's why FDC connection points are mandidated in all multistory structures.
Now drones for observation and muling tools is a totally different matter. And that has already started. Even my vollie department in NJ is testing observation drones with a thermal camera.
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u/2xtc 23h ago
How do these things exist and work then?
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u/s1ugg0 22h ago edited 22h ago
Please notice I said "putting water on a fire in a meaningful way". These drones are for such specific circumstances they are practically useless.
In the wildland fires they do not have the range or capacity to do suppression in any meaningful capacity. By the sheer volume of miles it would have to cover it could never respond to the scene fast enough to be useful. The fire will have grown too big for it's small reservoir of suppressant to work.
Take note that wildland firefighters all over the world aren't asking for suppression drones. They're begging for things like the Canadair CL-415. Which can put more suppressant on a fire faster than anything else.
In structures fire it only works in these sterile commercial tests. Two things to know about structure fires. With typical, normal class A combustibles the fire can double in size in as little as 60 seconds. That's not an exaggeration. Here is an actual demonstration of what I am describing. In this video from spark to flashover is 3 minutes. From room temperature to over 1000 degrees in 3 minutes. A flashover will burn or kill anything or anyone virtually instantly. Even firefighters in full PPE. Sadly it has.
Now ask yourself do you think that any of these drones could make it to a fire faster than 3 minutes or have enough suppression do anything meaningful against an +1000 degree fire? Well I don't.
Also the weather. We have to respond no matter what. There are extremely few instances where FDs stop operating. There is no such thing as a rain delay. It doesn't matter if there is 6 feet of snow and it's -50 degrees. Or the wind gusting. Or when it's 100 degrees and we start passing out. When I did my window bailout training I did it during a snow storm. The instructor blindfolded me and then ordered me to escape out of a five story window in a snow storm. This not me bragging. Every firefighter has a story like this. It wasn't even that dangerous to tell you the truth. The point is how effective do you think these drones will be in bad weather? A time when our services are most requested.
If you would like to see a real fire suppression drone in action please allow me to introduce you to Paris FD's "Colossus" This is the real deal and gets used all the time. And as you can see it's a firefighting tank. Because that's what it takes to make it to the seat of a structure fire sometimes.
By the way quick shoutout to Paris Fire Brigade. They're excellent firefighters. They're actually a department of the French Army and were formed by order of Emperor Napoleon in 1810. All of their firefighters are technically sappers. Their motto is "Sauver ou pĂŠrir" or in English "Save or Die"
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u/Ciff_ 1d ago
It is very heavily used in ukraine rn. You can prevent jamming. They use several hundred meters of cable mainly for control.
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u/oddly-even321 1d ago
The drones currently in Ukraine have cables length of about 10-20 km.
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u/S_J_E 1d ago
Also they're only being used for data transfer, whilst the one in OPs video I assume is just for power
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u/GiantManatee 1d ago
Those cables are thin too. You'd need superconductor wire (the holy grail of materials engineering) to power a drone through cable 10 km away.
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u/oddly-even321 1d ago
Those cables are fiber optical, so they can only used for data and no meaningful power even with a short cable.
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u/Shinhan 1d ago
Did you know there's also pressure washing drones?
For a long period ago my apartment building was in big problem with dirty gutters and since it is a 7 floor building most people we asked didn't wanna service it (too high for people without scaffolding, too small of a job for companies with scaffolding and so on, too far from capital city with its largest pool of workers). We did finally found a mountain clomber to do it, but I imagin a drone would've done it safer and easier.
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u/lizzieassist 1d ago
It's so good that technology is advancing and helping people
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u/notarobat 1d ago
Especially drones. I'm so tired of seeing some helpless Ukrainian or Russian soul spend his last moments on earth looking at a faceless machine that's being controlled remotely with a god damn playstation controller. Even worse was those aid workers last year who were chased miles, under constant drone attacks, only to perish under something that was likely being ordered by poorly trained AI software.Â
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u/Grimour 1d ago
I think you are focusing on the wrong part. A lot of Ukrainians would have died instead if they did not use the drones as weapons and robo dogs for reconnaissance. It really helps leviate some of the dread of going into not secure zones. The Russians could stay home if they didn't like the killing of innocents so much.
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u/BolunZ6 1d ago
People said the same when they first invented machine gun. "If only one person can fire at the rate of 100 peson, we don't have to send 99 person to the war thus saving life"
Yeah we already see how it turned out when ww2 with machine gun technology
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u/magicalfruitybeans 1d ago
But itâs kind of true. Warfare has changed since the invention of the machine gun. Itâs allowed for different tactics. We now donât send in thousands of soldiers at a time wall to wall. We sent in specialized units. Less people at risk
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u/psychodogcat 1d ago
It's kind of true that eventually, these technologies do end up saving lives more though. As warfare tech gets more dangerous, people are less likely to use it because their enemies also have the same tech. Mutually assured destruction is a hell of a drug.
However, the period immediately after invention is always the worst. See Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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u/Little_Head6683 20h ago
The MAD concept only applies to nuclear warfare. Wars have only become more lethal.
Just look at the devastation to cities in modern conflicts. The utter destruction of civilian areas is a hallmark of modern conflict.
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u/Traditional-Key4824 1d ago
Don't tell this guy there is this thing that is called arm race.
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u/Grimour 1d ago
LoL. You do realise you are talking about the Russian army here. Those who still use ancient technology, because they are still using cannon fodder tactics. They are racing to their graves, not to advance anything.
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u/Grimour 1d ago
Why was the machine gun effective? Because of armies swarming the front. That is no longer a viable strategy on the battlefield. Things have changed for the better for the average man, who was a war puppet yesterday.
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u/Ckarles 1d ago
Yep, they said the same thing about mustard gas.
"Hey, if we can just kill all of these people with some gas, it's gonna end the war quickly, so lives will be saved".
Then a few weeks later, the opponent used the same technique, then people started to die faster, and suffered much more.
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u/Automatic-Change7932 1d ago
You mean ww1? Still most casualties stemmed from artillery in both world wars. Now it is drones. In this case drones are even worse. They make the till recently most deadly weapon more deadly and are the most deadly weapon. Now you can kill more people for less money. Brave new world.
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u/PsychedDuckling 1d ago
If Americans didn't like oil so much, fallujah would still have more than one mosque
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u/Feisty_Manager_4105 1d ago
 Russians could stay home
I hope Putin gets a missile up his arse but that's just naive to think Russian cannon fodder have a choice
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u/somerandomfuckwit1 1d ago
The overwhelming majority of them willingly signed contracts they absolutely made a choice. Theres been 1 super unpopular partial reserve call up and that's it which is why they keep upping pay for signing contracts. Fuck em all
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u/some_edgy_shit- 1d ago
I think you are focusing on the good parts, the idea of anything autonomous in anyway harming anyone is scary regardless because od how it could be used. Even if itâs only used for good the fact that it could be used for evil should still make it scary techâŚâŚ.. also Iâm drunk, I could be misreading, misinterpreting, or just stating something obvious. So sprinkle a grain of salt on my and give me a glass of water.
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u/official_binchicken 1d ago
Drones are better than missiles.
Less collateral. Downside is we get more personal and more emotive footage. The plus is it wakes us up to the horrors of this stupid violence.
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u/Majestic-Pay-464 1d ago
If it makes you feel any better, US fire departments(well funded ones, anyway) have been using drones for similar use cases for the last few years.Â
Search and rescue, lighting, fire reconnaissance, and even deploying water rescue equipment.
There's as much good in this world as there is bad. It just doesn't sell as well in the newsÂ
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u/Impossible-Virus2678 14h ago
And Palestine. The drones hover them constantly. Its a maddening hum. Then add in the fake baby cries they broadcast, sometimes in the dead of night, to draw people out to so they can get shot by quadcopter drones. Its good to see drones being used to actually help people
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u/Fallen_Walrus 1d ago
But but they're supposed to charge people to save them! NOT FAIR! STOP THEM DADDY TRUMP
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u/MoistStub 1d ago
If we are lucky the fire dept might even become a subscription service to maximize America's freedom! /s
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u/TazBaz 21h ago edited 17h ago
I mean to be fair, thatâs literally how fire departments started.
Of course we as a society realized that it was to the best interest of society as a whole if we had some system for dealing with fires before they burned down entire cities.
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u/aykcak 23h ago
There is so much technology that can be thrown onto this problem. Most of the people who die of earthquakes die AFTER the earthquake. Depending on the size of the building hundreds of alive people might be trapped.
I wish we had something like hundreds of snake robots that crawl through the rubble to access people, provide them with supplied air and communication. It would be possible to map an entire debris field several floors deep, determine which sections can be removed without harming anyone so clearing teams can quickly attack and so provide access to rescuing people who are alive.
We have robots who do some of these things but not at scale and specialized for something like an earthquake. We definitely should
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u/BrentButler 1d ago
Thatâs a straightforward and clever use of a new technology. Iâm curious what the usable flight time would be.
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u/EmusOnly 1d ago
Looks like that wire is connected to a generator, thatâs actually pretty neat
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u/NJ_Legion_Iced_Tea 1d ago edited 1d ago
I can't wait for when wireless charging is able to extend multiple/hundreds of feet.
Wired drones are already capable of so much, and powering them wirelessly is going to be a civilizational game changer.
Edit: I'm talking high concept sci fi. The likes of which is probably outside of our reach but what we can strive towards. On par with Star Trek Transporters and Communicators from the 60s.
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u/Jazz8680 1d ago
Wireless energy decays exponentially as distance increases. Wireless charging over hundreds of feet would require massive amounts of energy to the point it wouldnât be worth it.
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u/AwesomeFama 1d ago
You can transfer a lot of energy wirelessly decently far. But aiming a high power laser at the drone is probably not the safest thing either, plus turning that energy back into electricity is not that easy either.
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u/nico282 1d ago
Spoiler alert, it won't. Physics laws don't change.
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u/NJ_Legion_Iced_Tea 1d ago
You're not entirely wrong, and it's probably only a good idea in sci fi. But there's nothing wrong in aspiring to create tech near that hypothetical potential.
Even 20 years ago you'd have been called mad for charging a cell phone wirelessly.
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u/Jealous_Priority_228 1d ago
It currently exists, but radiating that much power would undoubtedly be harmful to any humans, or pets, caught in the area. There's a room at a university where you can hold a light bulb, and it'll light up anywhere you hold it.
It's probably smarter to focus on concentrating batteries even more. Electricity is plentiful and renewable.
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u/Jostain 1d ago
It's not wireless though. You have to put it down on a plate and keep it perfectly aligned while it's charging. If anything it's more wired than regular charging. There is a reason that a lot of phone manufacturers stopped pushing that feature because they did the math and realised it was a technological dead end.
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u/nico282 1d ago
Sorry to ruin it for you, but the QI wireless standard is from 17 years ago (2008), and non standard solutions existed way before that.
My toothbrush was wireless charging in the 80s.
To become mainstream on phones it lacked only intelligence (phone now communicates with the charger) and standardization. It was never a physics issue.
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u/Tangata_Tunguska 1d ago
I'm not sure that'd ever make sense. Even with a narrow beam you'd still be limited to line of sight. And that beam emitter would be bordering on being a weapon in itself. It'd make more sense to use wires like they are here, or just use more drones and cycle through charging themÂ
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u/certifiedintelligent 1d ago
Theyâre tethered, so they can fly and light as long as the generator on the ground runs.
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u/DeathByPetrichor 1d ago
Thatâs⌠freaking brilliant. Why has this not been done before? Tethered drone seems like a fantastic idea for increased flight duration for security or time lapses
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u/_stonedspiritv2 1d ago
It's being used in wars right now since the signal can't be jammed. Fiber optics tethered drones.
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u/MajesticBread9147 1d ago
I mean we've had wire guided missiles since the 20th century.
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u/seanular 1d ago
Honestly, wilder to me than heat seeking.
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u/Kenny741 1d ago
With the Milan launch system you can guide the rocket while it's flying due to it being tethered as well. We had a group of 30 people shoot it for the first time and nobody missed a 2m by 3m metal plate 2000m away.
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u/shmodder 1d ago
The fiber cable doesnât power the drone, though. Itâs merely for data transmission.
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u/ruat_caelum 1d ago
its small wires with high voltage : https://www.vicorpower.com/resource-library/articles/uav/overcoming-tethered-uav-challenges
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u/nertynot 1d ago
I just saw a picture on here of a tesla plugged into a generator that it was towing down the highway
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u/Wakkit1988 1d ago
Some company actually sold a gas generator that uses a tow hitch receiver, so you can charge your EV with a generator.
Also, EVs with built-in range extenders should start hitting the market in the next few years out of China. They anticipate vehicle ranges around 1000km.
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u/IntelligentMoney2 1d ago edited 1d ago
Why this and not a balloon? Less power consumption. What would be the limitations on a balloon? A drone is more stable to wind, what else?
Edit: Iâm actually curious, not trying to start a war over this. What are the benefits of a drone over a balloon?
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u/FallschirmPanda 1d ago
No need for a helium supply chain in a disaster zone. Plus better control and responsiveness.
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u/ninetynyne 1d ago
Balloons are harder to deal with and clumsy. Repositioning could be a pain.
Actually, I think a small balloon attached to a drone (kind of like a tiny zeppelin) might be the best of both worlds.
But helium is actually quite a valuable resource, and the next best thing, hydrogen, is far too flammable.
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u/CitizenCue 1d ago
Size + wind.
A balloon big enough to hoist lights that big, plus the weight of the cable, would be fairly substantial. And it would of course move with the wind. Which could be annoying at best and dangerous at worst.
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u/Fortune_Cat 1d ago
Helium is a scarce resource
What if it's a windy, can the balloon self stablise
U need to lug a helium tank
U need to tether either way to power the lights
Lights produce heat Can the balloon resist and disperse that heat
What if the balloon pops. Carry spare helium and balloons?
Can you manouvre the balloon over rough landscape and rubble?
A drone boxes up quickly and easily in a portable case
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u/phire 1d ago
A balloon just isn't a very stable platform. The wind is constantly moving it, so will need a gimbal to keep the light pointing in the correct direction. Even with the gimbal, the light will shift around in ways which might be distracting to workers.
With the right sensors, a drone can lock it self into a fixed position in 3D space. You can even make it fly to a fixed position over the site for better light positioning. You don't need a gimbal, because the drone can just rotate.A balloon is lighter than air, so you still need a heavy base to anchor it in place and counter any wind. The drone doesn't need any anchoring it's neutral.
I suspect by the time you include the extra anchoring, the gimbal and equipment to fill the balloon with helium, the drone is far lighter and more portable. This is before we even talk about helium logistics.
With the wind, you can't operate the balloon anywhere near power lines, and you probably need a dedicated person to supervise each balloon full time. I suspect you can probably get away with leaving these tethered drones more or less unattended, once they are proven.
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u/TelluricThread0 1d ago
Well, they're powering the light via the cable, so doing the same with the drone I'd say indefinitely.
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u/Blazeflame79 1d ago
Woah they cast Magelight!
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u/Aedalas 1d ago
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
We're getting closer! My first thought was also of a spell used in one of my favorite book series, the mages would cast a light orb that followed them around when they needed it. I love this, life imitating art.
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u/Blazeflame79 1d ago
I was thinking Skyrim's light spells, but yeah. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdazqZpz1Ao
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u/pundemonium 1d ago edited 8h ago
My college roomate's wife is supplying these rescue teams, as a side job to her main job supplying the Chinese ministry of emergency rescue.
Their current focus are heartbeat radar that scans living human under feet of rubble, and highpower laser that cuts through steel beams.
Her company is renting an office that overlooks one expensive business district in Beijing. She invited me for tea there once. The full glass walls give a nice view.
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u/Turbulent-Stretch881 1d ago
China is winning the drone race.
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u/WoodsOfKali 1d ago
In case you havenât noticed, China is winning every race
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u/Melicor 1d ago
Because the US is too busy shooting themselves in the foot, over and over and over. Threw away every economic and scientific advantage to make a handful of people richer.
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u/CharesDuBois 20h ago
Also shooting up it's children, minorities, poor people. The US capitalists sure be winning tho good job America you living the dream
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u/BreathInTheWorld 1d ago
They really are hey, an authoritarian political system that has improved the lives of over one billion people. Yet our 'democracy' slides backwards in every way.
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u/arquillion 20h ago
I mean it has its downsides namely freedom of speech and individual rights. Ultimately it seems like they actually worry about the well being of the country as a whole but that's wholy dependant on the good will of a few powerful people. Something that historically speaking hasn't ended well
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u/BreathInTheWorld 17h ago
downsides namely freedom of speech and individual rights.
Yeah, Can't argue with that.
wholy dependant on the good will of a few powerful people.
The same is said for Democratic governments. Corruption is easily hidden within. Whereas authoritarian have few people held to account, when they fail a coup will ensue or the people rally.
Look up the authoritarian leader Lee Kuan Yew. He did amazing things for singapore, set that country up from dirt swamps to the amazing place it is.
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u/Anon_be_thy_name 1d ago
Let's not act like they aren't doing horrible shit.
What they're doing to Muslims in their own country(which is a genocide, they are also using them for human experimentation), what happened to Hong Kong, the constant amount of issues they cause in the South China Sea because they claim every island, their constant threats to Taiwan, Tibet. It's a really long list and that's just the basic things I can think of off the top of my head. If you do a deep dive you'll discover that while they do some good in the world, they do so much worse.
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u/Maleficent_Match3368 1d ago
Casually forgetting the U.S. does substantially worse and for centuries, with no sign of it ending, and even encourages it.
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u/aPrussianBot 1d ago
they are also using them for human experimentation
I swear people pull more and more unsourced wild shit out of their ass every time this claim comes up
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u/Sad-Hovercraft541 1d ago
What's the source for your claims of genocide and human experimentation?
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u/carimja 1d ago
human experimentation??? What they're doing to muslims?? they serve halal meals in every university canteen, there are several Islam-practicing minorities that are free to practice their religion without being hate-crimed, China has more than 10x the amount of mosques than America. There is no genocide, just deradicalisation after terrorist stabbings and bombings, and the Uyghur population has only been increasing.
least brain-washed american lmfao
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u/Not_a_real_ghost 1d ago
I love it that on the internet, people still claim Muslims are being mistreated in China. There are so many sources available online now that tells you otherwise. Ever wondered why not 1 single Muslim country is speaking out against China on this? Because this is a Western propaganda.
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u/Top_Meaning6195 22h ago
- America hates nazis
- America hates communism
- America hates organized crime
- America hates muslims
- America hates chinese
- goto 1
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u/callisstaa 1d ago
It used to be âoh Muslims are all just savages who donât care if their friends dieâ but then pretty much every Muslim nation is united in their support for Palestine so I guess that one was a pile of shit.
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u/CharonNixHydra 1d ago
They haven't fought in a war since I've been alive and I'm 47 years old.
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u/847RandomNumbers345 1d ago edited 1d ago
They are doing some bad stuff to their Uyghurs population? Yes, but I don't know to what extent, and I know that even the worse accusations aren't saying they are massacring them. American can't say the same about the million plus people they killed when they invaded Iraq on false premises, and their support of the endless destruction of Palestine, which I can visually see with pictures of the endless destroyed residential buildings and endless aid workers killed.
what happened to Hong Kong
During the Hong Kong protests, when browsing the news, I had to scroll past articles about American cops murdering their own citizens, to read posts about how Hong Kong citizens were worried they might be the victim of police abuse, and how a HK rioter who attacked a cop with a pipe... was shot once in the leg. JFC I wish I had those people as cops here in the USA.
their constant threats to Taiwan, Tibet.
They make ominous threats to those countries. America makes direct threats to other countries and will invade and kill MANY, as mentioned with Iraq.
There's lots of stuff I can praise America for. But having befriended Chinese citizens on Discord (who admittedly have to use VPNs), I don't believe America is in a state where they can talk down to China. If a country has an issue with China, they don't have to worry about having their people airstriked and massacred.
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u/straightcurvecircle 1d ago
Stop it with this Muslim genocide/ mistreatment bullshit, you have no idea what's going on there. There are more than one Muslim ethnic minority. China has the largest Halal supermarket in the world and has the most variety of Halal food products. In areas of strong ethinic minorities, all official signage must be bilingual.
So, what do you say to Taiwan when they also claim the islands the PRC claims? The claims are rooted in a historical nature. By the way, Taiwan also claims Mongolia.
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u/IncongruousTr1angle 1d ago
Shitting on democracy is crazy đ. I am so happy we dont share the same perspective on the world.
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u/broseph4555 1d ago
I think he's just saying american democracy is 'democracy' which is true.
Democracy is a great idea when inplemented well.
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u/jrm70210 1d ago
My cousin, a US Marine, just came back from vacation in China and told me that they're "100 years ahead of us."
This is what happens when you reinforce intelligence over ignorance.
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u/Fitz911 1d ago
And now think about that they were a hundred years behind just a few decades ago.
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u/iRonin 22h ago
The reality is that China has spent only a very very small portion of its history being anything less than one of (if not THE) most advanced nations on the planet.
Take a look at Admiral Zheng Heâs flagship vs Christopher Columbusâ âSanta Mariaâ, both from around the same period. The key difference was culture- unlike Western colonial and imperial tendencies, the Chinese eschewed projecting power internationally. The Dragon Throne was the Dragon Throne. Nations could submit tribute to be recognized but were never colonized and rarely traded with. In fact merchants that left China were provided no protections from the empire, for what need did China have of foreign goods? They were (they believed) inferior.
This was a major driving factor in the Opium Wars. Britain wanted to trade for tea, but China wanted nothing from Britain, so the Brits began importing opium (to the ports in the South, the only place they were granted access, far away from the Throne).
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u/bion93 1d ago edited 19h ago
I have been in China last summer. I thought that China appears to my eyes just like the US appeared to my father in the â80-â90s. Simply the future, amazing technology and social development. He was in the US very often at that time because he worked in the (small) Italian equivalent of NASA, so there were many shared job with NASA. He have always come back with stuffs that here in italy did not exist and it was always a WOW for me as a kid. Like the first mobile phone he bought in the US (here it was useless, there wasnât a line still lol). Now, I have been in the same year in NYC and Shanghai. I donât mean that NYC is a representation of the whole US, itâs just a city in a huge country. But I saw a decadent empire, a lot of social degradation (homeless, drugs, dirty, crazy traffic) versus the future: lights, cars showrooms, drone lights shows, absolute safety at every hour and efficiency.
Itâs crazy that everyone marks chiana as a dictatorship and almost as a third world country. Yes, itâs not an example of democracy, but many people think that China is like Iran or North Korea. No way. People are happy there. Maybe our Eurocentric point of view of the history of the world makes us think that ours is the only possible form of government. Itâs not. Is it the best? Maybe, but only future generations can tell. We should leave our idea that all world must be like the west!
EDIT: I canât answer to every single comment, but I want to make clear that Iâm not saying that China is perfect or everyone is happy there. Iâm not saying that. I said that itâs different from our propaganda. People are free more than we think and regime is less oppressive than 30 years ago. For example the VPN ban is not strictly enforced and people can easily have instagram or google, but they simply donât need our internet because they have better alternatives.
Also about the genocide of Uyghur: I donât think that some genocides are better than others. A genocide is wrong, always. Itâs a crime. âLet he who is without sin cast the first stoneâ I would say. Itâs better if we stop our crimes (see Palestine and the countless wars the western world caused in the last century) before talking about others with our superiority judgment. I am sure that also the smallest European country dropped more bombs than China in the last 100 years.
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u/guvbums 1d ago edited 1d ago
>People are happy there
I agree with most of what you say, but a lot of this accelerated progress has come at a human cost and you might find that people there are not as happy as you think.
edit: Looks like my comment activated the 50 Cent Army hehe
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u/NitroLada 23h ago
I'm sure there's lots of unhappy people there but overall seems they're much more content than people in Canada/US are. I recently was speaking with a few Chinese visa students and they all had no desire to remain and when I asked why, they all said it's so much better in China in terms of lifestyle from things to do, safety, public transportation and so much more advanced. I was a bit shocked as i thought they would like it here especially as they've been here since HS and speak English and adapted more or less
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u/datdailo 1d ago
The human cost came during the industrialization and the great Chinese famine.
Happiness is subjective but it is undoubtedly better than it was in the past 100 years. Maybe the past few years have been bad, since COVID, and the economic turmoil it left behind. But I don't anticipate my next 4 years to be joyful either with a neighbor that elected a deranged criminal and con artist who wants to annex us. An upcoming election that'll be deeply polarizing isn't what I would call happiness either. There's no such thing as a perfect system or government because perfect is subjective too. They just excel in different areas and you make do.
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u/WorldwearyMan 1d ago
Iâve travelled a lot over the last 35 years and when in China was amazed and surprised by how content/happy most people seemed to be compared to most countries Iâve visited. Just my impression. Side note, Russian people in the early â90s seemed the most unhappy
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u/toteslegoat 1d ago
No, a vast majority of Chinese citizens are actually pretty happy and proud of the ccp.
Thereâs a reason why the ccp is able to become so powerful, itâs cause they actually brought results for their citizens and moved China into contender for world number 1. Contender might need to be dropped soon.
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u/callisstaa 1d ago edited 23h ago
Yeah I've been living in China for a few years and people here are happy. It turns out that the freedoms people really care about are the freedom to walk around at night in safety, the freedom to go for a meal without being shaken down at every opportunity and the freedom to work a menial job and buy a house in their 30s.
China has 50,000 kilometres of high speed rail that it operates at a loss yet continues to expand because infrastructure is something that people actually want, more than the freedom to burn cars or talk shit about Trump to literally no avail.
The only thing I missed initially was smoking weed but it's a small sacrifice to live in a society that feels just like the West felt prior to 9/11.
The other major difference IMO is that the average Chinese has respect for the Western world and wants to see us prosper whereas Americans have to think that 1.4 billion people on the other side of the world are suffering just to have something to smile about.
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u/Alternative-Mix7288 1d ago
Buddy I value my freedom to talk shit about Trump, so don't underestimate that. However, we have lost that freedom here in the U.S. You can be denied entry and put into a concentration camp if they find these things on your phone at the airport. Elon Musk even said they'd be going after people pushing "propaganda". Our country is cooked, and at least China is living in the future.. but "China Bad" I'm sure.
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u/Icyrow 1d ago
Buddy I value my freedom to talk shit about Trump, so don't underestimate that.
as i cba re-writing the comment here just read this first i wrote it at the end though looking back over my comment: i get that i'm agreeing with you on a lot of points, just sorta adding ot your comment, not intending to say you're wrong, though in looking over my comment it sounds pretty aggressive, just know that i think we think the same thing and it's not intended.
americans say this, but while i'd say you have more than china in this regard, it is not absolute. like we're literally dealing with people getting their facebooks scrubbed to say if they said anything bad in deportations and if you want to test it, write out a comment detailing (doesn't have to be a lot) how you would end someone at the top of the country, like, look at where they will be in a few weeks and write something out, see what happens.
no country has absolute freedom, at some point it's freedom to do over the freedom to be safe, i.e, your freedom to drive a car that we know is more dangerous to those around you, the freedom to shout "fire" in a movie theatre, freedom to detail a dumb ass plan to do something very dumb.
like shouldn't your kids be free to go to school without being shot?
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u/Alternative-Mix7288 23h ago
Yes, I think we agree mostly. I'm reminded of Ben Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety"
I believe the key word here being "essential". I'm not an anarchist and value liberty over freedom. Yes, we 100% should be responsible for protecting our kids at school. This is where liberty trumps freedom. Children should have the liberty to go to school and not be affected by others' freedom to own overpowered and unnecessary weapons. Free speech is an essential liberty imo and one of the things I would criticize China the most. However, I do understand that the U.S. has been fed massive amounts of propaganda and they likely have more freedom than we perceive here. Unfortunately we've given up freedoms here in this country without receiving any of the safeties or other benefits China has received in exchange.
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u/cmaj7chord 1d ago
You are not wrong but it's also not the happy place you paint it to be: Young people struggle to find jobs because the economy is slowing down, which leads to a LOT of uncertanties among them and they still have certain disparities between rural and city area. Also, there are a lot of people working in a very low-wage sector, while silmutanously not having a lot of working rights. My mom is from a "small" city in China (around 500K citizens) and there are HUGE differences compared to Shenzhen, Shanghai or Beijing when it comes to income, quality of life, infrastructure etc.
And by the way: The CCP claims to be a developing country themselves, it's not "western propaganda", it's part of the CCP's political strategy to keep any kind of opposition down.
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u/Eldiablo2471 1d ago
It's because of the constant propaganda that runs on tv. Western countries know they are losing many races to China so best they can do is play dirty and try to convince people China Bad, USA and Europe Good. China is not far away from becoming the top Superpower in the world. They have strong military, amazing Innovations and most important, they provide the whole world with many important things like raw materials and technology. Where do you people think your Gucci clothes and iPhones come from. Or the raw materials for EV cars. Or steel. I hope the world will finally wake up and start seeing China as an ally so that the world becomes a better place for everybody.
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u/broniesnstuff 23h ago
I fell down the Chinese social media hole and was astounded at everything I was seeing.
"Oh you fell for the propaganda huh??"
It's hard to express to people that what was so shocking was people just living their damned lives. And the cars. My God I want a Chinese EV.
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u/Jazzlike_Leading5446 1d ago
Do you think they are also trying to close their department of education over there?
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u/Christhebobson 1d ago edited 1d ago
Just wondering what does them being a us marine have to do with it? As a veteran, I don't see the need to mention it.
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u/heart-aroni 1d ago
It's to establish that if this person had any bias, it would be towards his own country the US (which he patriotically chose to serve) and not towards it's perceived rival China.
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u/7Hobbes 1d ago
Spent more lives and money in endless war I'd say
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u/ChiemseeViking 1d ago
You know that most of the money that is âgoingâ into Ukraine is spend in the US, right? The ammunition that is send into Ukraine are old stockpiles. And every explosiv has an expectation date. So they are eight used (send them to Ukraine) or have to be disposed of in an expensive process. And the the stockpiles need new ammunitions. And who is producing those? Yes, Americans. So more jobs for Americans.
And on the other hand China is looking at this and takes notes. If we abandon Ukraine, a country Europa has a easy, direct logic links in form of rail and road, will we even bother with helping Taiwan, a country half an ocean away?
And China intends to take Taiwan. And yes, thatâll be bad for us because Taiwan is a important producer of electronic cips, essential in all our electronic devices.
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u/astridroze 1d ago
Yep traveling to Asia really opens up our eyes to how advanced they are, especially in China. They getting food deliveries in drones and everything is so convenient/ fast it's insane.
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u/RuskiesInTheWarRoom 23h ago
Meanwhile America sent three people to provide aid, where normally hundreds of experts with good resources would be sent.
Good work, Chinese contingent- hope many lives were saved.
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u/Amonamission 1d ago
Congrats America, you gave China the moral victory for the foreseeable future.
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u/RepeatRepeatR- 1d ago
There are countries in the world other than America and China, you know
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u/heart-aroni 1d ago
Many countries but 2 "leaders" ahead in most metrics.
One of them retreating from the world and gradually closing itself off (US), and the other steadily opening up and expanding it's contribution and influence (China).
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u/SitInCorner_Yo2 22h ago
I doubt the juntas will let western countries enter their borders, but your point stay very valid, America sabotaged their soft power in world records.
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u/ronaldotr08 22h ago
Since trump dismantled USAID, all the US could manage to send was a three man team. This is the perfect example of why USAID was such a good thing for Americans and American influence. Who do you think these people are going to look up to now? The Chinese that showed up in droves to save their loved ones or the Americans who didn't do anything to help?
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u/GeneralCnemistry 1d ago
Washington DC fire dept uses tethered drones to get a better assessment of the fire. I've never seen it used for lighting though.
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u/Patient_Lobster_1100 1d ago
Woah, honestly, always found drones to be lame other then taking videos. This is awesome!!
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u/Outer-Suburbia 1d ago
I didnât realize I followed this page and when I saw this I literally thought, âthatâs so interestingâ
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u/Beneficial-Web-9616 1d ago
Never expected China to ease into the role of the good guy and USA to go the opposite direction.
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u/verardi 1d ago
not news if you have recently visited China!
I have and they hay ahead of the US, and now with the implosion of âmurica they will 100% become the next work superpower
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u/Scorpio989 23h ago
People don't yet realize how incredibly versatile and genuinely world changing drones are... for better and worse.
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u/LawBaine 19h ago
Thatâs is literally life saving ingenuity - I know a lot of recent developments have been in the military application of these drones but this is very nice to see for a change.
I canât wait for them to get a fire hose on a Vampire to make firefighting easier (if thatâs been done please link me the footy)
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u/CantAffordzUsername 1d ago
Balloons werenât used for this before drones?
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u/g0ing_postal 1d ago
Balloons are a lot less stable. A strong breeze is going to move them around whereas drones can self correct
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u/DogsRDBestest 1d ago
So they have a portable generator and then hook it up with drones to light up hard to reach places to find humans? That's the best use of technology that we can have these days.
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u/Sonofabiscuit26 1d ago
Isn't it better to use technology to save lives than using it to kill? đ¤
Why the world "leaders" just can't do that? đĽš
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u/ghigoli 1d ago
huh thats a pretty nice drone. wonder how long it stays powered or the wire attached also powers it?
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u/WaspsInMyGoatse 1d ago
âLight up the nightâ and âilluminate this area with flood lightsâ are not the same thing, regardless of if theyâre on a drone or not.
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u/grumpy_tech_user 1d ago
This is what technology is meant to do. Enhance humanity when they need it most.
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u/229DontheDiesel 18h ago
Yeah during Helene, utilities were flying drones for cell phone service. It really was a game changer
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u/Benschmedium 17h ago
This is actually so awesome. I let out an audible âwhoaâ when the lights came on. A genuinely great use of technology in our modern era, canât wait to see this take off and spread until itâs a standard practice.
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u/Long_Implement_2142 15h ago
China is seriously getting its shit together. Itâs good sure, but ya kno..
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u/ashleycawley 13h ago
Technology is what we make of it, it can be used to kill people or save lives â¤ď¸
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u/StOnkyKONG777 1d ago