Nothing is insurmountable; however each one of us must play within the practical constraints of our local geographies (political, social, financial and physical). The parent comment probably means that Switzerland is in a positive on all axes unlike the rest of the world.
It’s politics. Boil most things down and the technical is inconsequential when compared to the politics.
Look at the political system of Switzerland and you will see a radically different setup.
And I think that’s the horse. The rest is cart. Yes they are rich but why? Yes they are relatively stable socially but why? Decentralised Canton government structure + direct democracy (referendums all the time for things that matter). That, I think, is why all the rest.
From a philosophical perspective, I love the cantonal/direct democracy model. But it's supported by a strong culture of awareness of current affairs, and involvement in the political process. (Of course, these two aspects are likely strongly synergistic.)
However, I'm not sure this unique political structure explains the trains running on time, the sensible choices made about the internet structure (per the article), the top-of-the-world healthcare system, the Swiss cheese science institute, or many other aspects of the broader country. It may partly explain the routinely excellent government bureaucracy (say that with a straight face anywhere else!), the convenient and reliable local public transport options, and the local police being well-resourced to the point of apparent boredom.
Heh, you were walking right up to my viewpoint and then turned away. A parliamentary democracy with proportional representation has way more influence IMO, and you'll find another couple of relatively well-run countries that work like that.
My take on AI-apps is that now its possible to build apps that we kind of wanted to build, but never did because it was too inconvenient.
I'm stealing this idea from this paragraph [1]:
> The book points out that the major value in a flying car (as with supersonic) would not be in taking the same trips you do now, only a bit faster. Instead, it would be in taking the trips you don’t take now, because they’re too inconvenient.
There were a few rough edges for me with the block-based editing. I chocked it up to me never having used a block-based editor with any frequency.
I stay away from some of the AI features:
- One feature generates additional context for a flashcard as you practice. This burned up my AI credits like crazy and added nothing but distraction to my practice.
- Another AI feature for PDF summarizing just didn't work. It made a claim immediately and clearly contradicted by text in the exact area I was highlighting.
I strongly empathise with your situation. The definition of security and success in south asian countries is wildly different from that in the West. I’m 28 and I moved to the UK, 3 years ago. I did a bunch of open-source work and found an employer who hired me based on my contributions and was willing to sponsor my visa. Other than going to university, open-source contributions are the only option people like us to move to the West.
I understand why you feel like everything is chaotic. But, remember that most people don’t have the kind of time you have (you are only 19 and can afford to take a lot of risks). There maybe many things that are not in your favour, but you also have things that give you an advantage over others. I didn’t even know HN existed until I was 24. Ignore the chaos, focus on yourself. Apna time ayega.
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