US destroying its reputation as a scientific leader – European science diplomat

It worked out well for Europe because the country that took over its position of leadership position post-WW2 (USA) was aligned with it in all ways (politically, culturally, scientifically, economically), and so (western) European countries could still enjoy all the benefits. It will not be the case this time around, because the next generation of innovation and leadership is going to come from China.

I think that is the most likely outcome. However, if the decline starts occurring too rapidly, I do think violent far-right (and perhaps far-left) paramilitary action could become a major problem, like in 1920s/1930s Germany. Tons of time spent lurking in far-right extremist communities out of morbid curiosity, and the spread of far-right ethnosupremacist sentiment on basically every social media platform, has me concerned.

Yes but Spain, England, and France all had decade long declines that reversed. Except you know, at the end. When it didn't reverse.

We are witnessing the end of... something. Is it the end of the Roman Republic or is this the end of the Roman Empire?

Two very different situations despite being so politically fraught and full of change.

> England “gave up” scientific and technological leadership during the 20th century. (That’s a tongue-in-cheek take on it, don’t read too much into it.)

Was forced to give up, due to the economic devastation of WWII, might be more accurate (though of course there were other factors too).

Usually the opposite of what happens to a power in decline

To be fair, it was pretty much the entire western world fucking around before. Brexit was the first shock but I don't think the world learned many lessons from that. However a lot of western nations are taking the US as a cautionary tale and will learn from US mistakes. So 2nd place might be lucky at this point (assuming we're comparing large trading blocs rather than just countries).

All I have to say is, don’t blame me. I am an American and didn’t vote for this bullsh*t. Leave me out when you enslave the rest of the Americans lol

I think it's very likely counterfactually better than USSR (now Russian) or Chinese hegemony. Imagine if Al Gore had won 2000 - America at the helm while growing increasingly wary of violent foreign interventions seems like the least bad path for Earth. (I am not sure if such a path still remains.)

China ultra-liberalizing and becoming a democracy and then the hegemon could be an okay path but I am not too optimistic about the prospects of those first parts.

As bad as American domination is, wnat's coming after is might easily be worse.

The US has screwed up but to state we've been nothing but bad since 49 is a genuinely revisionist take.

I guess I respect you being honestly pro-war. Not sure that’s what everyone wants.

It's popular to hate the US but I'd like to know what country you think would be better at the role of global hegemon. What country would you suggest would do a better job? Be specific.

The greatest era of prosperity expansion and peace in world history courtesy of pax Americana. The best decades - measurably - for humanity overall have taken place since the US assumed that role post WW2.

The problem is that the current government's idea of being a piece of shit politically includes any sort of dissent, disagreement, or mocking of the administration (see the people who have gotten in trouble for JD Vance memes)

I too, enjoy having my DNA samples taken and my phones contents downloaded as an agent scrolls through 5 years of my social media history for wrongthink against Doritos Flamin' Führor

But how does a person know if they are a piece of shit, according to CBP, or not? Might just skip the trip altogether and have less things to worry about.

That's a cute idea. Are you sure it's aligned with the reality?

The reality of any extra difficulty does not matter, the perception and response are the reality we deal with

> ... and have white skin

You forgot that. It's not that black and white (pun fully intended). But it's not not that black and white either.

Not true. Border agents were always tinpot dictators, but they're awful these days.

I personally know white collar professionals who were turned back at the border for having a B1 visa instead of a TN visa for temporary work, while another person in their group was let through with no problem. They've been using the same kind of visa for a decade before this. And they were white dudes from Canada.

My Mexican friends said they're not stepping foot in the US for the foreseeable future, and I don't blame them. They have families and can't risk being disappeared and potentially killed because of some idiot border agent.

We have another article about the funding thing on the front page, so it's not a hard pattern to work out?

If you don't think a foreign diplomat's comments about a counterparty nation are potentially biased, we don't have enough common ground to warrant further discussion.

Is there any metric saying what the proper amount is or is it always “more”? Is there a point where others should do more and the US less?

USA has a huge lead in the deployed technologies such as chips, software and defence tech. Research papers might not be a good metric.

>Seems like a lot of people were getting a lot of easy money, and now they are unhappy.

who? can you be more specific than your generic "scientists" response?

I get it. But what I'm saying is that the impact of a single misguided administration, while can be very devastating, is not enough to write off american super power status in research.

With appropriate planning and funding, the next administration can definitely reverse the trend.

Even the concerted effort of a competent administration wouldn't be enough to cancel a system that's a century in the making.

Keyword: competent.

You allude to it yourself in your example. People, from all over the world, were doing research in the US, because that’s the only place they could really do it. Now that this option is disappearing, the system will have to adjust and find another place. When that happens, US loses. Until it does, we all do.

What the US needs first and foremost is a better future for its own citizens. We have abandoned our youth to unemployment and underemployment.