Cryptonomicon on Nostr: Are the USA becoming the next China? Will 🇺🇸 America in 2025 repeat the mistake ...

Are the USA becoming the next China?
Will 🇺🇸 America in 2025 repeat the mistake 🇨🇳 China made in 1434?

In 1434, China halted its great naval expeditions and isolated itself from the world with the Haijin Edict.

🇨🇳 China was wealthy
until the Ming Dynasty* in 1434,
when the empire began to shut itself off.

🇺🇸 The USA is wealthy
in 2025 with the MAGA movement,
and now the country is starting to close itself off:

First with high tariffs on foreign goods, now with outrageous $100,000 H-1B visas for foreign specialists.

Isolation means poverty — financially and culturally.

P.S. China’s isolation after 1434 may have helped preserve its culture, but it also led to economic stagnation, limited technological progress, and a lack of global awareness.

In America’s case, it’s unclear what “culture” is being preserved:
Fast food, oversized gas-guzzling cars, or the glittering fantasy worlds of Hollywood and Disney?

* China repeated this mistake under Mao Zedong between 1949 and 1976.