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This is my response to Winston's complaints about the soulless Taiwanese.

Taiwan has its purpose, and it's not to develop soul - it's to develop industries. For that, you need people who function like reliable machines.
Because of Taiwan's efficiency, you have the computer you're using and the money in your bank account. Those "soulful" countries you romanticize? They'll give you beautiful experiences but no reliable infrastructure. Constant power cuts, broken ATMs, banks you can't trust, people who promise everything and deliver nothing.

Taiwan's "robotic" population keeps your world functioning. They perform the essential practical role that lets you pursue romance and meaning elsewhere.

The answer isn't to make Taiwan more emotional. It's to get your practical needs met by Taiwan and your romantic experiences from other countries. Use Taiwan for reliable banking, quality electronics, and efficient services. Then go to the Philippines for romance, India for spirituality, Brazil for passion.

Different societies serve different functions. Taiwan handles the machinery of modern life so you can seek soul elsewhere. That's not soullessness - that's specialization.

You can't get blood out of a turnip and complaining that turnip has no blood is pointless. It is not its function.

ladislav wrote: ↑

June 13th, 2025, 9:59 am

This is my response to Winston's complaints about the soulless Taiwanese.

Taiwan has its purpose, and it's not to develop soul - it's to develop industries. For that, you need people who function like reliable machines.
Because of Taiwan's efficiency, you have the computer you're using and the money in your bank account. Those "soulful" countries you romanticize? They'll give you beautiful experiences but no reliable infrastructure. Constant power cuts, broken ATMs, banks you can't trust, people who promise everything and deliver nothing.

Taiwan's "robotic" population keeps your world functioning. They perform the essential practical role that lets you pursue romance and meaning elsewhere.

The answer isn't to make Taiwan more emotional. It's to get your practical needs met by Taiwan and your romantic experiences from other countries. Use Taiwan for reliable banking, quality electronics, and efficient services. Then go to the Philippines for romance, India for spirituality, Brazil for passion.

Different societies serve different functions. Taiwan handles the machinery of modern life so you can seek soul elsewhere. That's not soullessness - that's specialization.

You can't get blood out of a turnip and complaining that turnip has no blood is pointless. It is not its function.

@ladislav I think your argument is correct, to an extent, yet brutal. The working ethos that allowed most of the civilised world to thrive on hi-tech digital electronics may well extend to Japan, South Korea, and mainland China. As you may remember, even the Philippines were, back in the 80s, a major hub for electronics manufacturing.

The problem I see is that, even behind that "robotic" approach to work and life, Taiwanese are still human beings. There is only so much a populace can bear, before the social contract breaks down and changes to the worse happen. From the few vlogs I watched about the Taiwan situation, I understand the country is relying on a relatively young population who is almost at breaking point, considering all the uncertainty they are forced to coexist with. High inflation, increasing living costs (especially housing), high-pressure education and elusive high-paying jobs, few or no paid holidays to see the world and enjoy life.

Finally, there's the Sword of Damocles of China attacking Taiwan. It can happen any time, and probably will, by 2030 some say.

It's a hard life for Taiwan. I have always loved Taiwanese as a bridge culture between the China and Japan, taking some of the best of both worlds. At it seems, they are also taking problems from both worlds.

@publicduende
I'm not sure that TW are still human beings. Nearly all people in TW seem empty and hollow and have blank eyes. I think you know what I mean. I took some photos of TW models on posters that I was gonna send you on Whatsapp that have fake empty faces and eyes that look total NPC, to show you what I mean. Check your Whatsapp.

If we are in a simulation or virtual reality we cannot rule out that some or most people are NPCs with no sentience and are pure AI or Sims characters in a Sims game and have no sentience or inner awareness. Some think NPCs are merely young souls while others think they are pure AI with no sentience. It's an open question and there are good arguments on both sides.

However, a normal human could be an NPC and only divine souls are game players in the matrix. So in that sense TWese could be human, if normal humans are just NPCs. Watch the movie Tron and the sequel. The person entering the grid was the player or user, whereas the people inside the grid were all NPCs created by the grid. Taiwanese for sure are very soulless and have empty blank eyes. I will send you some pics to show you what I mean. Check your Whatsapp.

@ladislav and @publicduende

Keep in mind that in Hong Kong the Cantonese there are robots too and live to make money and are very materialistic and conformist and competitive. So yeah they are robots too. However HK is dynamic and has character and culture. It's not as boring and lifeless and bland as Taiwan is. Taiwan is definitely the most boring country in Asia. No doubt about it. The people in TW never have any fun. None of my relatives invite me anywhere except to a one hour dinner at their house where everyone just acts square and superficial. Most Taiwanese don't even go to the night market. They sleep early and watch TV and go shopping and buy food but never have fun or party or go out at night or do anything interesting. They just live like monks and nuns and have a very boring sterile life.

For some reason, you aren't allowed to tell the truth about this or call a spade a spade. Even expats in the PH are withdrawn and reclusive and want to be left alone. The vibe in TW makes you feel asocial and withdrawn. I saw someone on Reddit say that too, that the more he stays in TW the more he feels withdrawn and asocial. Some places have a weird vibe that does that to you. Washington state is like that too.

Even my parents are boring. When they are out they are in a rush to get home. Very party pooper and debbie downer and very boring.

TW definitely takes the cake for being the most boring country in Asia. That's for sure. At least HK is a dynamic city that has some energy and growth, even if it's soulless and expensive and rude. I'm not saying that I like HK, just that it isn't as boring as Taiwan. When I'm in Chungking Mansion in HK at least the Arabs there selling Middle Eastern food will talk to me. In TW people are afraid to talk to strangers, even foreigners in TW are. It's very weird and negative and antisocial, like the US, but you aren't allowed to talk about it, because TW is politically correct and honesty is a taboo here. It is a different dimension than SE Asia.

PD why don't you come here to Taiwan and I will show you how cold and antisocial people are, and you will admit that I am right.

Winston wrote: ↑

June 14th, 2025, 5:59 am

@publicduende
I'm not sure that TW are still human beings. Nearly all people in TW seem empty and hollow and have blank eyes. I think you know what I mean. I took some photos of TW models on posters that I was gonna send you on Whatsapp that have fake empty faces and eyes that look total NPC, to show you what I mean. Check your Whatsapp.

If we are in a simulation or virtual reality we cannot rule out that some or most people are NPCs with no sentience and are pure AI or Sims characters in a Sims game and have no sentience or inner awareness. Some think NPCs are merely young souls while others think they are pure AI with no sentience. It's an open question and there are good arguments on both sides.

However, a normal human could be an NPC and only divine souls are game players in the matrix. So in that sense TWese could be human, if normal humans are just NPCs. Watch the movie Tron and the sequel. The person entering the grid was the player or user, whereas the people inside the grid were all NPCs created by the grid. Taiwanese for sure are very soulless and have empty blank eyes. I will send you some pics to show you what I mean. Check your Whatsapp.

@Winston

I have been talking about this NPC theory with Alex as well. In short, this theory is incompatible with the little gnostic knowledge I accumulated over time, as well as what I feel. Every human being on this planet is born with a soul. If this plane of existence really is a simulation, or a game played by our souls while a superior "Council" observes us, it may well be. Yet, it's a game where every player is equipped with the same kind of "core".

You like to denigrate Taiwanese people because, being Taiwanese yourself, it makes you feel special. Those are soulless, robotic beings programmed to work, sleep and maybe procreate once or twice, while you are the ultimate Asian Freethinker.

Well, reality is more complicated than that. Entire societies in Asia have been educated (indoctrinated?) to repress their inner selves to serve a greater Purpose. Japan first, then South Korea and Taiwan, lastly China. This specific social contract is precisely why we have been calling them economic miracles and why, despite all the issues, they still appear as efficient, orderly, and productive societies.

If Taiwanese have "blank eyes", why not Japanese, South Korean and mainland Chinese? They abide to the same principles, after all. As far as your argument is concerned, I see no reason to single out the Taiwanese.

Winston wrote: ↑

June 14th, 2025, 6:33 am

Keep in mind that in Hong Kong the Cantonese there are robots too and live to make money and are very materialistic and conformist and competitive. So yeah they are robots too. However HK is dynamic and has character and culture. It's not as boring and lifeless and bland as Taiwan is. Taiwan is definitely the most boring country in Asia. No doubt about it. The people in TW never have any fun. None of my relatives invite me anywhere except to a one hour dinner at their house where everyone just acts square and superficial. Most Taiwanese don't even go to the night market. They sleep early and watch TV and go shopping and buy food but never have fun or party or go out at night or do anything interesting. They just live like monks and nuns and have a very boring sterile life.

OK, I see you're calling out on the Hongkonese, as well as the Taiwanese

Winston wrote: ↑

June 14th, 2025, 6:33 am

For some reason, you aren't allowed to tell the truth about this or call a spade a spade. Even expats in the PH are withdrawn and reclusive and want to be left alone. The vibe in TW makes you feel asocial and withdrawn. I saw someone on Reddit say that too, that the more he stays in TW the more he feels withdrawn and asocial. Some places have a weird vibe that does that to you. Washington state is like that too.

People are turning into asocial automata all over the world, @Winston. It's not just Taiwanese or people from the Washington state. Social media are giving us the illusion of "communicating" with the world when we are, in fact, manifesting our narcissism to what we think, we hope, is a large, worldwide audience.

We are alone, and I don't think it's a trend you can only find in Taipei. Filipinos seem to have more soul because they are, indeed, far more impulsive people. They lack discipline, social boundaries, the sense of the Greater Good, and (most of them) don't even know where Work Ethics lives. They are a mess and they're proud of it. This might make the more colourful, but not necessarily better citizens or human beings than the Taiwanese or Cantonese.

Winston wrote: ↑

June 14th, 2025, 6:33 am

Even my parents are boring. When they are out they are in a rush to get home. Very party pooper and debbie downer and very boring.

Maybe so, but their "boring" hard work is what allows you to live comfortably wherever you want, without having to pull a day of work. If I was you, I wouldn't be so critical towards them. They lived in an age where building something for themselves and their families (you included) was imperative. In a way, they have been boring so you could be the freethinking Asian you are.

Winston wrote: ↑

June 14th, 2025, 6:33 am

TW definitely takes the cake for being the most boring country in Asia. That's for sure. At least HK is a dynamic city that has some energy and growth, even if it's soulless and expensive and rude. I'm not saying that I like HK, just that it isn't as boring as Taiwan. When I'm in Chungking Mansion in HK at least the Arabs there selling Middle Eastern food will talk to me. In TW people are afraid to talk to strangers, even foreigners in TW are. It's very weird and negative and antisocial, like the US, but you aren't allowed to talk about it, because TW is politically correct and honesty is a taboo here. It is a different dimension than SE Asia.

PD why don't you come here to Taiwan and I will show you how cold and antisocial people are, and you will admit that I am right.

I have been both to HK and Taipei several times. Yes, you can tell HK is socio-culturally more layered and more complex a society. For the little I know it, I think Taipei is more aseptic, closer to Japan than it is to China. I had a chance to speak to a few people living in Taipei, including an Italian. People carry on with their life duties, robotically if you like, but they do harbour feelings, and those feelings are anxiety about the future. They are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They know they need to comply to have a decent life. At the same time, they feel someone is pulling their dream of a decent life from behind their feet, no matter how hard they work.

As I said, I have been to Taipei 4 times in total. Never for more than a few days, true, yet enough to feel the vibe. As I said, it felt a lot like being in Japan, with a more Chinese take on things like innovation and cuisine. I don't seen Taiwanese people as soulless, just as a society of collectivist ants that work for the Greater Good, while bottling up their real selves.

This is the norm, @Winston. Having time (and funds) to travel, explore the world, talk to different people instead of spending 80% of your existence working or sleeping, is a luxury. Not everybody is as lucky as you are.