Hacker News Reader

Comment by nimbius | Hacker News Reader

this new red scare has the potential to backfire just as spectacularly as it did in the 1950s, when it ended up landing a big win for Chinas ICBM program.

https://radii.co/article/its-not-rocket-science-except-when-...

we sentenced Qian to house arrest with zero evidence or charges, and in return Under Qian’s direction, Chinese researchers developed the first generation of “Long March” missiles and in 1970 supervised the launch of Chia’s first satellite.

“I do not plan to come back,” Qian bitterly told a reporter as he prepared to leave the country. “I have no reason to come back…. I plan to do my best to help the Chinese people build up the nation to where they can live with dignity and happiness.”

View on HN

Wonder how many people the UK screwed over with Brexit that now feel similarly towards the UK?

This is a serious point. I knew dozens of high-skilled tech-based Europeans who left the UK due to Brexit and felt both hurt and offended.

This should not be downvoted. My undergraduate advisor had a vicious hatred for Margaret Thatcher and the 1981 cuts that caused him to seek employment abroad.

Yeah, that doesn't surprise me at all.

For me, the UK government quite literally took away my EU citizenship. Something I was making use of, and had significant life plans for. I am far fucking beyond not impressed about that.

In the meantime I've returned to Australia and am getting things done here.

> and in return Under Qian’s direction, Chinese researchers developed the first generation of “Long March” missiles

The "post hoc, ergo propter hoc" fallacy in a single sentence.

Why do you think it's a fallacy? Do you think that he would have returned to China regardless of his treatment in the US, or do you think that his contribution is insignificant to China's missile programme?

Or put it differently, how would it (counterfactually) not be a fallacy?

Qian Xuesen wanted to return to China, and that’s why he was prosecuted, not the other way around. You’ve got the cause and effect reversed.

He wanted to return to China because he was banned from conducting research in the US, put under house arrest, and threatened with deportation during the Red Scare.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com