*AI Summary*
*# *Persona Adopted: Senior Socio-Economic Migration Analyst**
A suitable group to review this topic would be *The Swiss Federal Office for Migration (SEM) and the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA).* These bodies are responsible for tracking demographic shifts, the integration of foreign nationals, and the welfare of the "Fifth Switzerland" (Swiss citizens living abroad).
As a Senior Analyst in this field, I provide the following synthesis of the provided material:
**
*Abstract:*
This report analyzes the accelerating trend of Swiss emigration, contrasting Switzerland’s global reputation for wealth and stability with the lived experiences of its citizens. While the country remains a primary destination for high-skilled foreign labor, the annual rate of emigration is now growing faster than immigration. This shift is driven by a widening disconnect between stagnant wages and the escalating cost of living, particularly in "superstar cities" like Zurich and Geneva.
Key systemic pressures identified include a severe housing shortage exacerbated by bureaucratic bottlenecks, the "overvaluation" of the real estate market, and the social rigidity of a conformist culture. The phenomenon of "pension arbitrage"—where retirees relocate to countries like Thailand or Tanzania to maximize the purchasing power of their Swiss pensions—is a significant driver of the net outflow. Ultimately, the material positions Switzerland as a case study for global "superstar" economies, where extreme success creates an environment that is increasingly uninhabitable for the local middle class and retirees on fixed incomes.
*The Swiss Paradox: Analyzing the Accelerating Net Outflow of Citizens*
* *0:00 Emigration Trends:* Emigration from Switzerland is growing at a faster annual rate than immigration. While foreign nationals continue to arrive for career advancement, the net outflow of Swiss citizens was 40% higher in the last seven years compared to the previous seven.
* *1:51 Perception vs. Reality:* Despite the international image of "everyone owning a Rolex," many residents struggle with high stress and negative social aspects. The "perfect" external functioning of the country often masks internal pressures and high-barrier social structures.
* *4:24 Demographic Drivers:* Migration is increasingly temporary. Departures are fueled by naturalization (immigrants returning home after gaining citizenship), an aging population moving abroad for retirement, and young professionals seeking a "better life" elsewhere.
* *6:30 The Economic Squeeze:* Wages have failed to keep pace with the soaring cost of living. Basic monthly health insurance can exceed $550, while services like massages or dining out are up to four times more expensive than in competing global hubs like Singapore.
* *7:47 Historical Success as a Burden:* Switzerland’s wealth was built on innovation, political stability, and attracting multinational corporations (e.g., Google, P&G). These entities contribute 50% of corporate tax revenue but also bring elite talent that inflates the housing market and displaces locals.
* *10:04 Middle-Class Disillusionment:* Local residents report that "surviving is exhausting." High-value intensive industries prioritize productivity, leaving the middle class and retirees on fixed incomes feeling "trapped" in a cycle of high costs.
* *11:47 Infrastructure and Housing Crisis:* The population doubled in 77 years, but housing supply is constrained. Only 5% of Swiss territory is zoned for building, and bureaucratic delays have increased approval times by 70% since 2010, leading to a national vacancy rate of just 1%.
* *14:37 The Social Safety Net Limit:* While Switzerland offers a robust safety net, it is described as a system where "you won’t fall, but you won't fly," covering only basic survival in an increasingly expensive environment.
* *16:02 Geographic Arbitrage:* Approximately 11.2% of Swiss citizens now live abroad. Major destinations include France, Germany, and the U.S., but there is a growing trend of moving to lower-cost regions like Tanzania or Thailand where a Swiss pension provides significant lifestyle advantages.
* *17:14 The Superstar City Phenomenon:* The Swiss experience reflects a global trend where "knowledge economy clusters" drive up costs in desirable cities, forcing the middle class to utilize their "exit strategy" (the privilege of a strong passport) to maintain their standard of living elsewhere.
AI-generated summary created with gemini-3-flash-preview for free via RocketRecap-dot-com. (Input: 23,334 tokens, Output: 914 tokens, Est. cost: $0.0144).
Below, I will provide input for an example video (comprising of title, description, and transcript, in this order) and the corresponding abstract and summary I expect. Afterward, I will provide a new transcript that I want a summarization in the same format.
**Please give an abstract of the transcript and then summarize the transcript in a self-contained bullet list format.** Include starting timestamps, important details and key takeaways.
Example Input:
Fluidigm Polaris Part 2- illuminator and camera
mikeselectricstuff
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Fluidigm Polaris part 1 : • Fluidigm Polaris (Part 1) - Biotech g...
Ebay listings: https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/mikeselect...
Merch https://mikeselectricstuff.creator-sp...
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mikeselectricstuff
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40 Comments
@robertwatsonbath
6 hours ago
Thanks Mike. Ooof! - with the level of bodgery going on around 15:48 I think shame would have made me do a board re spin, out of my own pocket if I had to.
1
Reply
@Muonium1
9 hours ago
The green LED looks different from the others and uses phosphor conversion because of the "green gap" problem where green InGaN emitters suffer efficiency droop at high currents. Phosphide based emitters don't start becoming efficient until around 600nm so also can't be used for high power green emitters. See the paper and plot by Matthias Auf der Maur in his 2015 paper on alloy fluctuations in InGaN as the cause of reduced external quantum efficiency at longer (green) wavelengths.
4
Reply
1 reply
@tafsirnahian669
10 hours ago (edited)
Can this be used as an astrophotography camera?
Reply
mikeselectricstuff
·
1 reply
@mikeselectricstuff
6 hours ago
Yes, but may need a shutter to avoid light during readout
Reply
@2010craggy
11 hours ago
Narrowband filters we use in Astronomy (Astrophotography) are sided- they work best passing light in one direction so I guess the arrows on the filter frames indicate which way round to install them in the filter wheel.
1
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@vitukz
12 hours ago
A mate with Channel @extractions&ire could use it
2
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@RobertGallop
19 hours ago
That LED module says it can go up to 28 amps!!! 21 amps for 100%. You should see what it does at 20 amps!
Reply
@Prophes0r
19 hours ago
I had an "Oh SHIT!" moment when I realized that the weird trapezoidal shape of that light guide was for keystone correction of the light source.
Very clever.
6
Reply
@OneBiOzZ
20 hours ago
given the cost of the CCD you think they could have run another PCB for it
9
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@tekvax01
21 hours ago
$20 thousand dollars per minute of run time!
1
Reply
@tekvax01
22 hours ago
"We spared no expense!" John Hammond Jurassic Park.
*(that's why this thing costs the same as a 50-seat Greyhound Bus coach!)
Reply
@florianf4257
22 hours ago
The smearing on the image could be due to the fact that you don't use a shutter, so you see brighter stripes under bright areas of the image as you still iluminate these pixels while the sensor data ist shifted out towards the top. I experienced this effect back at university with a LN-Cooled CCD for Spectroscopy. The stripes disapeared as soon as you used the shutter instead of disabling it in the open position (but fokussing at 100ms integration time and continuous readout with a focal plane shutter isn't much fun).
12
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mikeselectricstuff
·
1 reply
@mikeselectricstuff
12 hours ago
I didn't think of that, but makes sense
2
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@douro20
22 hours ago (edited)
The red LED reminds me of one from Roithner Lasertechnik. I have a Symbol 2D scanner which uses two very bright LEDs from that company, one red and one red-orange. The red-orange is behind a lens which focuses it into an extremely narrow beam.
1
Reply
@RicoElectrico
23 hours ago
PFG is Pulse Flush Gate according to the datasheet.
Reply
@dcallan812
23 hours ago
Very interesting. 2x
Reply
@littleboot_
1 day ago
Cool interesting device
Reply
@dav1dbone
1 day ago
I've stripped large projectors, looks similar, wonder if some of those castings are a magnesium alloy?
Reply
@kevywevvy8833
1 day ago
ironic that some of those Phlatlight modules are used in some of the cheapest disco lights.
1
Reply
1 reply
@bill6255
1 day ago
Great vid - gets right into subject in title, its packed with information, wraps up quickly. Should get a YT award! imho
3
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@JAKOB1977
1 day ago (edited)
The whole sensor module incl. a 5 grand 50mpix sensor for 49 £.. highest bid atm
Though also a limited CCD sensor, but for the right buyer its a steal at these relative low sums.
Architecture Full Frame CCD (Square Pixels)
Total Number of Pixels 8304 (H) × 6220 (V) = 51.6 Mp
Number of Effective Pixels 8208 (H) × 6164 (V) = 50.5 Mp
Number of Active Pixels 8176 (H) × 6132 (V) = 50.1 Mp
Pixel Size 6.0 m (H) × 6.0 m (V)
Active Image Size 49.1 mm (H) × 36.8 mm (V)
61.3 mm (Diagonal),
645 1.1x Optical Format
Aspect Ratio 4:3
Horizontal Outputs 4
Saturation Signal 40.3 ke−
Output Sensitivity 31 V/e−
Quantum Efficiency
KAF−50100−CAA
KAF−50100−AAA
KAF−50100−ABA (with Lens)
22%, 22%, 16% (Peak R, G, B)
25%
62%
Read Noise (f = 18 MHz) 12.5 e−
Dark Signal (T = 60°C) 42 pA/cm2
Dark Current Doubling Temperature 5.7°C
Dynamic Range (f = 18 MHz) 70.2 dB
Estimated Linear Dynamic Range
(f = 18 MHz)
69.3 dB
Charge Transfer Efficiency
Horizontal
Vertical
0.999995
0.999999
Blooming Protection
(4 ms Exposure Time)
800X Saturation Exposure
Maximum Date Rate 18 MHz
Package Ceramic PGA
Cover Glass MAR Coated, 2 Sides or
Clear Glass
Features
• TRUESENSE Transparent Gate Electrode
for High Sensitivity
• Ultra-High Resolution
• Board Dynamic Range
• Low Noise Architecture
• Large Active Imaging Area
Applications
• Digitization
• Mapping/Aerial
• Photography
• Scientific
Thx for the tear down Mike, always a joy
Reply
@martinalooksatthings
1 day ago
15:49 that is some great bodging on of caps, they really didn't want to respin that PCB huh
8
Reply
@RhythmGamer
1 day ago
Was depressed today and then a new mike video dropped and now I’m genuinely happy to get my tear down fix
1
Reply
@dine9093
1 day ago (edited)
Did you transfrom into Mr Blobby for a moment there?
2
Reply
@NickNorton
1 day ago
Thanks Mike. Your videos are always interesting.
5
Reply
@KeritechElectronics
1 day ago
Heavy optics indeed... Spare no expense, cost no object. Splendid build quality. The CCD is a thing of beauty!
1
Reply
@YSoreil
1 day ago
The pricing on that sensor is about right, I looked in to these many years ago when they were still in production since it's the only large sensor you could actually buy. Really cool to see one in the wild.
2
Reply
@snik2pl
1 day ago
That leds look like from led projector
Reply
@vincei4252
1 day ago
TDI = Time Domain Integration ?
1
Reply
@wolpumba4099
1 day ago (edited)
Maybe the camera should not be illuminated during readout.
From the datasheet of the sensor (Onsemi): saturation 40300 electrons, read noise 12.5 electrons per pixel @ 18MHz (quite bad). quantum efficiency 62% (if it has micro lenses), frame rate 1 Hz. lateral overflow drain to prevent blooming protects against 800x (factor increases linearly with exposure time) saturation exposure (32e6 electrons per pixel at 4ms exposure time), microlens has +/- 20 degree acceptance angle
i guess it would be good for astrophotography
4
Reply
@txm100
1 day ago (edited)
Babe wake up a new mikeselectricstuff has dropped!
9
Reply
@vincei4252
1 day ago
That looks like a finger-lakes filter wheel, however, for astronomy they'd never use such a large stepper.
1
Reply
@MRooodddvvv
1 day ago
yaaaaay ! more overcomplicated optical stuff !
4
Reply
1 reply
@NoPegs
1 day ago
He lives!
11
Reply
1 reply
Transcript
0:00
so I've stripped all the bits of the
0:01
optical system so basically we've got
0:03
the uh the camera
0:05
itself which is mounted on this uh very
0:09
complex
0:10
adjustment thing which obviously to set
0:13
you the various tilt and uh alignment
0:15
stuff then there's two of these massive
0:18
lenses I've taken one of these apart I
0:20
think there's something like about eight
0:22
or nine Optical elements in here these
0:25
don't seem to do a great deal in terms
0:26
of electr magnification they're obiously
0:28
just about getting the image to where it
0:29
uh where it needs to be just so that
0:33
goes like that then this Optical block I
0:36
originally thought this was made of some
0:37
s crazy heavy material but it's just
0:39
really the sum of all these Optical bits
0:41
are just ridiculously heavy those lenses
0:43
are about 4 kilos each and then there's
0:45
this very heavy very solid um piece that
0:47
goes in the middle and this is so this
0:49
is the filter wheel assembly with a
0:51
hilariously oversized steper
0:53
motor driving this wheel with these very
0:57
large narrow band filters so we've got
1:00
various different shades of uh
1:03
filters there five Al together that
1:06
one's actually just showing up a silver
1:07
that's actually a a red but fairly low
1:10
transmission orangey red blue green
1:15
there's an excess cover on this side so
1:16
the filters can be accessed and changed
1:19
without taking anything else apart even
1:21
this is like ridiculous it's like solid
1:23
aluminium this is just basically a cover
1:25
the actual wavelengths of these are um
1:27
488 525 570 630 and 700 NM not sure what
1:32
the suffix on that perhaps that's the uh
1:34
the width of the spectral line say these
1:37
are very narrow band filters most of
1:39
them are you very little light through
1:41
so it's still very tight narrow band to
1:43
match the um fluoresence of the dies
1:45
they're using in the biochemical process
1:48
and obviously to reject the light that's
1:49
being fired at it from that Illuminator
1:51
box and then there's a there's a second
1:53
one of these lenses then the actual sort
1:55
of samples below that so uh very serious
1:58
amount of very uh chunky heavy Optics
2:01
okay let's take a look at this light
2:02
source made by company Lumen Dynamics
2:04
who are now part of
2:06
excelitas self-contained unit power
2:08
connector USB and this which one of the
2:11
Cable Bundle said was a TTL interface
2:14
USB wasn't used in uh the fluid
2:17
application output here and I think this
2:19
is an input for um light feedback I
2:21
don't if it's regulated or just a measur
2:23
measurement facility and the uh fiber
2:27
assembly
2:29
Square Inlet there and then there's two
2:32
outputs which have uh lens assemblies
2:35
and this small one which goes back into
2:37
that small Port just Loops out of here
2:40
straight back in So on this side we've
2:42
got the electronics which look pretty
2:44
straightforward we've got a bit of power
2:45
supply stuff over here and we've got
2:48
separate drivers for each wavelength now
2:50
interesting this is clearly been very
2:52
specifically made for this application
2:54
you I was half expecting like say some
2:56
generic drivers that could be used for a
2:58
number of different things but actually
3:00
literally specified the exact wavelength
3:02
on the PCB there is provision here for
3:04
385 NM which isn't populated but this is
3:07
clearly been designed very specifically
3:09
so these four drivers look the same but
3:10
then there's two higher power ones for
3:12
575 and
3:14
520 a slightly bigger heat sink on this
3:16
575 section there a p 24 which is
3:20
providing USB interface USB isolator the
3:23
USB interface just presents as a comport
3:26
I did have a quick look but I didn't
3:27
actually get anything sensible um I did
3:29
dump the Pi code out and there's a few
3:31
you a few sort of commands that you
3:32
could see in text but I didn't actually
3:34
manage to get it working properly I
3:36
found some software for related version
3:38
but it didn't seem to want to talk to it
3:39
but um I say that wasn't used for the
3:41
original application it might be quite
3:42
interesting to get try and get the Run
3:44
hours count out of it and the TTL
3:46
interface looks fairly straightforward
3:48
we've got positions for six opto
3:50
isolators but only five five are
3:52
installed so that corresponds with the
3:54
unused thing so I think this hopefully
3:56
should be as simple as just providing a
3:57
ttrl signal for each color to uh enable
4:00
it a big heat sink here which is there I
4:03
think there's like a big S of metal
4:04
plate through the middle of this that
4:05
all the leads are mounted on the other
4:07
side so this is heat sinking it with a
4:09
air flow from a uh just a fan in here
4:13
obviously don't have the air flow
4:14
anywhere near the Optics so conduction
4:17
cool through to this plate that's then
4:18
uh air cooled got some pots which are
4:21
presumably power
4:22
adjustments okay let's take a look at
4:24
the other side which is uh much more
4:27
interesting see we've got some uh very
4:31
uh neatly Twisted cable assemblies there
4:35
a bunch of leads so we've got one here
4:37
475 up here 430 NM 630 575 and 520
4:44
filters and dcro mirrors a quick way to
4:48
see what's white is if we just shine
4:49
some white light through
4:51
here not sure how it is is to see on the
4:54
camera but shining white light we do
4:55
actually get a bit of red a bit of blue
4:57
some yellow here so the obstacle path
5:00
575 it goes sort of here bounces off
5:03
this mirror and goes out the 520 goes
5:07
sort of down here across here and up
5:09
there 630 goes basically straight
5:13
through
5:15
430 goes across there down there along
5:17
there and the 475 goes down here and
5:20
left this is the light sensing thing
5:22
think here there's just a um I think
5:24
there a photo diode or other sensor
5:26
haven't actually taken that off and
5:28
everything's fixed down to this chunk of
5:31
aluminium which acts as the heat
5:32
spreader that then conducts the heat to
5:33
the back side for the heat
5:35
sink and the actual lead packages all
5:38
look fairly similar except for this one
5:41
on the 575 which looks quite a bit more
5:44
substantial big spay
5:46
Terminals and the interface for this
5:48
turned out to be extremely simple it's
5:50
literally a 5V TTL level to enable each
5:54
color doesn't seem to be any tensity
5:56
control but there are some additional
5:58
pins on that connector that weren't used
5:59
in the through time thing so maybe
6:01
there's some extra lines that control
6:02
that I couldn't find any data on this uh
6:05
unit and the um their current product
6:07
range is quite significantly different
6:09
so we've got the uh blue these
6:13
might may well be saturating the camera
6:16
so they might look a bit weird so that's
6:17
the 430
6:18
blue the 575
6:24
yellow uh
6:26
475 light blue
6:29
the uh 520
6:31
green and the uh 630 red now one
6:36
interesting thing I noticed for the
6:39
575 it's actually it's actually using a
6:42
white lead and then filtering it rather
6:44
than using all the other ones are using
6:46
leads which are the fundamental colors
6:47
but uh this is actually doing white and
6:50
it's a combination of this filter and
6:52
the dichroic mirrors that are turning to
6:55
Yellow if we take the filter out and a
6:57
lot of the a lot of the um blue content
7:00
is going this way the red is going
7:02
straight through these two mirrors so
7:05
this is clearly not reflecting much of
7:08
that so we end up with the yellow coming
7:10
out of uh out of there which is a fairly
7:14
light yellow color which you don't
7:16
really see from high intensity leads so
7:19
that's clearly why they've used the
7:20
white to uh do this power consumption of
7:23
the white is pretty high so going up to
7:25
about 2 and 1 half amps on that color
7:27
whereas most of the other colors are
7:28
only drawing half an amp or so at 24
7:30
volts the uh the green is up to about
7:32
1.2 but say this thing is uh much
7:35
brighter and if you actually run all the
7:38
colors at the same time you get a fairly
7:41
reasonable um looking white coming out
7:43
of it and one thing you might just be
7:45
out to notice is there is some sort
7:46
color banding around here that's not
7:49
getting uh everything s completely
7:51
concentric and I think that's where this
7:53
fiber optic thing comes
7:58
in I'll
8:00
get a couple of Fairly accurately shaped
8:04
very sort of uniform color and looking
8:06
at What's um inside here we've basically
8:09
just got this Square Rod so this is
8:12
clearly yeah the lights just bouncing
8:13
off all the all the various sides to um
8:16
get a nice uniform illumination uh this
8:19
back bit looks like it's all potted so
8:21
nothing I really do to get in there I
8:24
think this is fiber so I have come
8:26
across um cables like this which are
8:27
liquid fill but just looking through the
8:30
end of this it's probably a bit hard to
8:31
see it does look like there fiber ends
8:34
going going on there and so there's this
8:36
feedback thing which is just obviously
8:39
compensating for the any light losses
8:41
through here to get an accurate
8:43
representation of uh the light that's
8:45
been launched out of these two
8:47
fibers and you see uh
8:49
these have got this sort of trapezium
8:54
shape light guides again it's like a
8:56
sort of acrylic or glass light guide
9:00
guess projected just to make the right
9:03
rectangular
9:04
shape and look at this Center assembly
9:07
um the light output doesn't uh change
9:10
whether you feed this in or not so it's
9:11
clear not doing any internal Clos Loop
9:14
control obviously there may well be some
9:16
facility for it to do that but it's not
9:17
being used in this
9:19
application and so this output just
9:21
produces a voltage on the uh outle
9:24
connector proportional to the amount of
9:26
light that's present so there's a little
9:28
diffuser in the back there
9:30
and then there's just some kind of uh
9:33
Optical sensor looks like a
9:35
chip looking at the lead it's a very
9:37
small package on the PCB with this lens
9:40
assembly over the top and these look
9:43
like they're actually on a copper
9:44
Metalized PCB for maximum thermal
9:47
performance and yeah it's a very small
9:49
package looks like it's a ceramic
9:51
package and there's a thermister there
9:53
for temperature monitoring this is the
9:56
475 blue one this is the 520 need to
9:59
Green which is uh rather different OB
10:02
it's a much bigger D with lots of bond
10:04
wise but also this looks like it's using
10:05
a phosphor if I shine a blue light at it
10:08
lights up green so this is actually a
10:10
phosphor conversion green lead which
10:12
I've I've come across before they want
10:15
that specific wavelength so they may be
10:17
easier to tune a phosphor than tune the
10:20
um semiconductor material to get the uh
10:23
right right wavelength from the lead
10:24
directly uh red 630 similar size to the
10:28
blue one or does seem to have a uh a
10:31
lens on top of it there is a sort of red
10:33
coloring to
10:35
the die but that doesn't appear to be
10:38
fluorescent as far as I can
10:39
tell and the white one again a little
10:41
bit different sort of much higher
10:43
current
10:46
connectors a makeer name on that
10:48
connector flot light not sure if that's
10:52
the connector or the lead
10:54
itself and obviously with the phosphor
10:56
and I'd imagine that phosphor may well
10:58
be tuned to get the maximum to the uh 5
11:01
cenm and actually this white one looks
11:04
like a St fairly standard product I just
11:06
found it in Mouse made by luminous
11:09
devices in fact actually I think all
11:11
these are based on various luminous
11:13
devices modules and they're you take
11:17
looks like they taking the nearest
11:18
wavelength and then just using these
11:19
filters to clean it up to get a precise
11:22
uh spectral line out of it so quite a
11:25
nice neat and um extreme
11:30
bright light source uh sure I've got any
11:33
particular use for it so I think this
11:35
might end up on
11:36
eBay but uh very pretty to look out and
11:40
without the uh risk of burning your eyes
11:43
out like you do with lasers so I thought
11:45
it would be interesting to try and
11:46
figure out the runtime of this things
11:48
like this we usually keep some sort
11:49
record of runtime cuz leads degrade over
11:51
time I couldn't get any software to work
11:52
through the USB face but then had a
11:54
thought probably going to be writing the
11:55
runtime periodically to the e s prom so
11:58
I just just scope up that and noticed it
12:00
was doing right every 5 minutes so I
12:02
just ran it for a while periodically
12:04
reading the E squ I just held the pick
12:05
in in reset and um put clip over to read
12:07
the square prom and found it was writing
12:10
one location per color every 5 minutes
12:12
so if one color was on it would write
12:14
that location every 5 minutes and just
12:16
increment it by one so after doing a few
12:18
tests with different colors of different
12:19
time periods it looked extremely
12:21
straightforward it's like a four bite
12:22
count for each color looking at the
12:24
original data that was in it all the
12:26
colors apart from Green were reading
12:28
zero and the green was reading four
12:30
indicating a total 20 minutes run time
12:32
ever if it was turned on run for a short
12:34
time then turned off that might not have
12:36
been counted but even so indicates this
12:37
thing wasn't used a great deal the whole
12:40
s process of doing a run can be several
12:42
hours but it'll only be doing probably
12:43
the Imaging at the end of that so you
12:46
wouldn't expect to be running for a long
12:47
time but say a single color for 20
12:50
minutes over its whole lifetime does
12:52
seem a little bit on the low side okay
12:55
let's look at the camera un fortunately
12:57
I managed to not record any sound when I
12:58
did this it's also a couple of months
13:00
ago so there's going to be a few details
13:02
that I've forgotten so I'm just going to
13:04
dub this over the original footage so um
13:07
take the lid off see this massive great
13:10
heat sink so this is a pel cool camera
13:12
we've got this blower fan producing a
13:14
fair amount of air flow through
13:16
it the connector here there's the ccds
13:19
mounted on the board on the
13:24
right this unplugs so we've got a bit of
13:27
power supply stuff on here
13:29
USB interface I think that's the Cyprus
13:32
microcontroller High speeded USB
13:34
interface there's a zyink spon fpga some
13:40
RAM and there's a couple of ATD
13:42
converters can't quite read what those
13:45
those are but anal
13:47
devices um little bit of bodgery around
13:51
here extra decoupling obviously they
13:53
have having some noise issues this is
13:55
around the ram chip quite a lot of extra
13:57
capacitors been added there
13:59
uh there's a couple of amplifiers prior
14:01
to the HD converter buffers or Andor
14:05
amplifiers taking the CCD
14:08
signal um bit more power spy stuff here
14:11
this is probably all to do with
14:12
generating the various CCD bias voltages
14:14
they uh need quite a lot of exotic
14:18
voltages next board down is just a
14:20
shield and an interconnect
14:24
boardly shielding the power supply stuff
14:26
from some the more sensitive an log
14:28
stuff
14:31
and this is the bottom board which is
14:32
just all power supply
14:34
stuff as you can see tons of capacitors
14:37
or Transformer in
14:42
there and this is the CCD which is a uh
14:47
very impressive thing this is a kf50 100
14:50
originally by true sense then codec
14:53
there ON
14:54
Semiconductor it's 50 megapixels uh the
14:58
only price I could find was this one
15:00
5,000 bucks and the architecture you can
15:03
see there actually two separate halves
15:04
which explains the Dual AZ converters
15:06
and two amplifiers it's literally split
15:08
down the middle and duplicated so it's
15:10
outputting two streams in parallel just
15:13
to keep the bandwidth sensible and it's
15:15
got this amazing um diffraction effects
15:18
it's got micro lenses over the pixel so
15:20
there's there's a bit more Optics going
15:22
on than on a normal
15:25
sensor few more bodges on the CCD board
15:28
including this wire which isn't really
15:29
tacked down very well which is a bit uh
15:32
bit of a mess quite a few bits around
15:34
this board where they've uh tacked
15:36
various bits on which is not super
15:38
impressive looks like CCD drivers on the
15:40
left with those 3 ohm um damping
15:43
resistors on the
15:47
output get a few more little bodges
15:50
around here some of
15:52
the and there's this separator the
15:54
silica gel to keep the moisture down but
15:56
there's this separator that actually
15:58
appears to be cut from piece of
15:59
antistatic
16:04
bag and this sort of thermal block on
16:06
top of this stack of three pel Cola
16:12
modules so as with any Stacks they get
16:16
um larger as they go back towards the
16:18
heat sink because each P's got to not
16:20
only take the heat from the previous but
16:21
also the waste heat which is quite
16:27
significant you see a little temperature
16:29
sensor here that copper block which
16:32
makes contact with the back of the
16:37
CCD and this's the back of the
16:40
pelas this then contacts the heat sink
16:44
on the uh rear there a few thermal pads
16:46
as well for some of the other power
16:47
components on this
16:51
PCB okay I've connected this uh camera
16:54
up I found some drivers on the disc that
16:56
seem to work under Windows 7 couldn't
16:58
get to install under Windows 11 though
17:01
um in the absence of any sort of lens or
17:03
being bothered to the proper amount I've
17:04
just put some f over it and put a little
17:06
pin in there to make a pinhole lens and
17:08
software gives a few options I'm not
17:11
entirely sure what all these are there's
17:12
obviously a clock frequency 22 MHz low
17:15
gain and with PFG no idea what that is
17:19
something something game programmable
17:20
Something game perhaps ver exposure
17:23
types I think focus is just like a
17:25
continuous grab until you tell it to
17:27
stop not entirely sure all these options
17:30
are obviously exposure time uh triggers
17:33
there ex external hardware trigger inut
17:35
you just trigger using a um thing on
17:37
screen so the resolution is 8176 by
17:40
6132 and you can actually bin those
17:42
where you combine multiple pixels to get
17:46
increased gain at the expense of lower
17:48
resolution down this is a 10sec exposure
17:51
obviously of the pin hole it's very uh
17:53
intensitive so we just stand still now
17:56
downloading it there's the uh exposure
17:59
so when it's
18:01
um there's a little status thing down
18:03
here so that tells you the um exposure
18:07
[Applause]
18:09
time it's this is just it
18:15
downloading um it is quite I'm seeing
18:18
quite a lot like smearing I think that I
18:20
don't know whether that's just due to
18:21
pixels overloading or something else I
18:24
mean yeah it's not it's not um out of
18:26
the question that there's something not
18:27
totally right about this camera
18:28
certainly was bodge wise on there um I
18:31
don't I'd imagine a camera like this
18:32
it's got a fairly narrow range of
18:34
intensities that it's happy with I'm not
18:36
going to spend a great deal of time on
18:38
this if you're interested in this camera
18:40
maybe for astronomy or something and
18:42
happy to sort of take the risk of it may
18:44
not be uh perfect I'll um I think I'll
18:47
stick this on eBay along with the
18:48
Illuminator I'll put a link down in the
18:50
description to the listing take your
18:52
chances to grab a bargain so for example
18:54
here we see this vertical streaking so
18:56
I'm not sure how normal that is this is
18:58
on fairly bright scene looking out the
19:02
window if I cut the exposure time down
19:04
on that it's now 1 second
19:07
exposure again most of the image
19:09
disappears again this is looks like it's
19:11
possibly over still overloading here go
19:14
that go down to say say quarter a
19:16
second so again I think there might be
19:19
some Auto gain control going on here um
19:21
this is with the PFG option let's try
19:23
turning that off and see what
19:25
happens so I'm not sure this is actually
19:27
more streaking or which just it's
19:29
cranked up the gain all the dis display
19:31
gray scale to show what um you know the
19:33
range of things that it's captured
19:36
there's one of one of 12 things in the
19:38
software there's um you can see of you
19:40
can't seem to read out the temperature
19:42
of the pelta cooler but you can set the
19:44
temperature and if you said it's a
19:46
different temperature you see the power
19:48
consumption jump up running the cooler
19:50
to get the temperature you requested but
19:52
I can't see anything anywhere that tells
19:54
you whether the cool is at the at the
19:56
temperature other than the power
19:57
consumption going down and there's no
19:59
temperature read out
20:03
here and just some yeah this is just
20:05
sort of very basic software I'm sure
20:07
there's like an API for more
20:09
sophisticated
20:10
applications but so if you know anything
20:12
more about these cameras please um stick
20:14
in the
20:15
comments um incidentally when I was
20:18
editing I didn't notice there was a bent
20:19
pin on the um CCD but I did fix that
20:22
before doing these tests and also
20:24
reactivated the um silica gel desicant
20:26
cuz I noticed it was uh I was getting
20:28
bit of condensation on the window but um
20:31
yeah so a couple of uh interesting but
20:34
maybe not particularly uh useful pieces
20:37
of Kit except for someone that's got a
20:38
very specific use so um I'll stick a
20:42
I'll stick these on eBay put a link in
20:44
the description and say hopefully
20:45
someone could actually make some uh good
20:47
use of these things
Example Output:
**Abstract:**
This video presents Part 2 of a teardown focusing on the optical components of a Fluidigm Polaris biotechnology instrument, specifically the multi-wavelength illuminator and the high-resolution CCD camera.
The Lumen Dynamics illuminator unit is examined in detail, revealing its construction using multiple high-power LEDs (430nm, 475nm, 520nm, 575nm, 630nm) combined via dichroic mirrors and filters. A square fiber optic rod is used to homogenize the light. A notable finding is the use of a phosphor-converted white LED filtered to achieve the 575nm output. The unit features simple TTL activation for each color, conduction cooling, and internal homogenization optics. Analysis of its EEPROM suggests extremely low operational runtime.
The camera module teardown showcases a 50 Megapixel ON Semiconductor KAF-50100 CCD sensor with micro-lenses, cooled by a multi-stage Peltier stack. The control electronics include an FPGA and a USB interface. Significant post-manufacturing modifications ("bodges") are observed on the camera's circuit boards. Basic functional testing using vendor software and a pinhole lens confirms image capture but reveals prominent vertical streaking artifacts, the cause of which remains uncertain (potential overload, readout artifact, or fault).
**Exploring the Fluidigm Polaris: A Detailed Look at its High-End Optics and Camera System**
* **0:00 High-End Optics:** The system utilizes heavy, high-quality lenses and mirrors for precise imaging, weighing around 4 kilos each.
* **0:49 Narrow Band Filters:** A filter wheel with five narrow band filters (488, 525, 570, 630, and 700 nm) ensures accurate fluorescence detection and rejection of excitation light.
* **2:01 Customizable Illumination:** The Lumen Dynamics light source offers five individually controllable LED wavelengths (430, 475, 520, 575, 630 nm) with varying power outputs. The 575nm yellow LED is uniquely achieved using a white LED with filtering.
* **3:45 TTL Control:** The light source is controlled via a simple TTL interface, enabling easy on/off switching for each LED color.
* **12:55 Sophisticated Camera:** The system includes a 50-megapixel Kodak KAI-50100 CCD camera with a Peltier cooling system for reduced noise.
* **14:54 High-Speed Data Transfer:** The camera features dual analog-to-digital converters to manage the high data throughput of the 50-megapixel sensor, which is effectively two 25-megapixel sensors operating in parallel.
* **18:11 Possible Issues:** The video creator noted some potential issues with the camera, including image smearing.
* **18:11 Limited Dynamic Range:** The camera's sensor has a limited dynamic range, making it potentially challenging to capture scenes with a wide range of brightness levels.
* **11:45 Low Runtime:** Internal data suggests the system has seen minimal usage, with only 20 minutes of recorded runtime for the green LED.
* **20:38 Availability on eBay:** Both the illuminator and camera are expected to be listed for sale on eBay.
Here is the real transcript. What would be a good group of people to review this topic? Please summarize provide a summary like they would:
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Why the Swiss are leaving Switzerland
Helen Zhao
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41,587 views Jan 14, 2026 SWITZERLAND
Switzerland is depicted in the headlines as the wealthiest, happiest and even most perfect country in the world. As a result, Switzerland gains tens of thousands of foreign citizens each year. However, it’s also losing thousands of its own citizens to other countries. In the last seven years, the net outflow of Swiss citizens was 40% higher than in the seven years prior.
In Switzerland, emigration – the act of leaving one’s country to move abroad – is growing at a faster average annual rate than immigration. It hints at how Switzerland is changing, in ways that complicate its reputation as the world’s “most perfect country.”
In this video, I break down why more Swiss are leaving, where they’re going, and why Switzerland is just one more extreme case of what happening in a lot of the hottest destinations around the world.
00:00 Emigration is growing faster than Immigration
02:43 “I never thought we would emigrate, but now we’re leaving”
04:24 Reasons people are leaving
05:06 A better life abroad
07:47 How Switzerland became so wealthy and “perfect”
10:03 “Surviving is exhausting”
11:47 Switzerland is struggling to keep up with its own success
14:50 How the Swiss are adapting
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#Swiss #switzerland #switzerlandtrip #switzerlandimmigration #switzerlandemigration #leavingswitzerland #immigration #emigration #immigrationtoswitzerland #expats #swissexpat #expatlife #immigrants #immigrant #expats #expat #zurich #zürich #zurichcity #geneva #genevaswitzerland
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Helen Zhao
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Pinned by @helenjzhao
@Ultrayano
5 days ago (edited)
Switzerland is perfect on paper, but what many people miss is, that it's an conformist country. It is so perfect, because everything works like a clockwork, which as a result makes it super safe and predictable, which again as a result makes society as a whole very uniform or conform. So for people that thrive on predictability and rigid structures it's perfect, because it makes their nervous system calm. But all that comes at the cost of social climate. Switzerland likes to pretend, that it gives people full autonomy and agency about their lives, but it often comes with invisible rules and ambient pressure to perform. It's a country with a high cost of living, so one needs to function after all.
All this factors together make Swiss people addicted to their calendars. Everything social is high-barrier and there are basically no opt-in/opt-out low-barrier spaces, since many swiss don't like getting approached doing their daily errands and "third places" don't really exist in that way since swiss friend groups are really cliquey. So there's basically the hidden pressure to fit into the mold or be slowly and subtly ousted by society here.
It's a beautiful country and has one of the best security and well-fare systems in the world, but people just have a base mistrust against others making it feel incredibly cold.
Take Taiwan as an example. They have a worse work system, get literally exploited by work, insane pressure in school to perform due to Confucius values, but still have so much warmth in their private lifes and are generally much more flexible for outliers. They judge you more openly, while Switzerland does it invisible which can feel much more oppressive.
People wouldn't know if they never lived anywhere else for a longer while, which also doesn't include people going to a country for 2 months living in absolute luxury. There are reasons swiss are so incredible hot for Thailand for vacationing nowadays. Because it's laidback and not insanely rigid.
Swiss people work on the work-home-work-home rhythm for 5 days a week. And people who say everyone should join a club didn't understand that not everyone wants to have a high-barrier formalized social membership in a body to socialize. It's actually liberating to have an opt-out possibility that didn't cost you anything to even opt-in.
The good parts are things like security, predictability and high salary as I already mentioned. But if someone thrives on spontaneity and a bit of chaos then the good is actually costing one a bit of their mental sanity.
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10 replies
@eyeofchorus6313
2 weeks ago
Cost of living. Saved you 18 minutes of fluff.
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6 replies
@newstime1955
2 weeks ago
Not everyone is rich in Switzerland.
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@eprod9456
3 weeks ago
The only thing what is bothering me is the underlying music which is absolutely unnecessary for such formats.
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9 replies
@RainbowYak
9 days ago
Swiss here. I was born with a rare visual disability that progressively becomes worse over time. As a child/teenager, I worked my ass off to get top grades and the best education possible. I wanted to make absolutely sure that despite my disability, I'd have a prosperous career later on in life. I had to work twice as hard as all other students but I was willing to sacrifice my leisure time and my rest for a happy, financially secure future. After my graduation from high school, I got a BA from the University of Zurich. During my graduate studies, shortly before finishing my Master's program, my health situation became much worse and I went completely blind (on both eyes). As a result, I developed severe depression which made it impossible for me to finish my degree. In spite of this, I decided to attend a special, full-time training that lasts 9 months and seeks to help visually disabled people get integrated in the Swiss job market. After all of this, I tried to find a job. And uh, yeah, basically no one wants me. Either employers only accept applicants with a Master's degree or they don't trust a blind person will do the job correctly (or both). So now I'm in my late 30s, highly educated but dependend on disability benefits and basically living in poverty. To say I've been disillusioned would be the understatement of the year. I've worked soooooo incredibly hard. I've tried to do the whole rat race nonsense. And for what? For absolutely nothing.
What's the point of living in a rich country if you can't afford anything? What's the point of living in an innovative country if you feel lonely every day? How can one find meaning in any of this? I often dream of emigrating. I'd love to live in a more laid back place; a place where I wouldn't need to struggle every day and where I could find a job even without possessing a bloody PhD and 300 other certificates. But alas, I simply don't have the funds to move anywhere.
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12 replies
@karelp5358
2 weeks ago
Who could have imagined it? People with the financial means to move wherever they want according to their needs.
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2 replies
@I.L-b1o
2 weeks ago
I’m an American married to a Swiss and lived and worked in Switzerland for many years. What I learned is Switzerland is not this posh place that is always portrayed in the movies. The Swiss are actually very provincial people and way less cosmopolitan than I ever imagined. I moved back to the States after a few years because although it’s a beautiful country, it wasn’t really fun living there. Now we just visit every year and that’s enough. We have teenage kids and they are ready to leave after a week in Switzerland.
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61 replies
@cefanie
2 weeks ago
Sorry to tell you, but being in Switzerland has been great in only some ways... on the other hand, I have never been more humbled & depressed in my entire life. Life without money here is pure depression. And if you came for money, be prepared to fight for it - the job market is insanely competitive & so is the housing market as well. And if you are planning to buy a place at any point, be prepared to cough up 1.5 million for a basic apartment.
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3 replies
@michaelserksnas24
3 weeks ago
Wow! Interesting about P&G and Google having a presence in Switzerland. Thanks for opening up my eyes about this country. I definitely thought of it as a fairy tale country! Keep making more vids like this please!!
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@tk1576
13 days ago
the middleclass gets fucked, the profits go to the top 1% owning assets like apartments etc.
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4 replies
@Steef70
2 weeks ago
I am a Dutch national who has been living and working in Switzerland for eight years now. Switzerland is a beautiful country and, compared to the Netherlands, I experience less stress, higher wages, and lower taxes. There is a greater emphasis on individual responsibility and personal freedom. Furthermore, the healthcare system is of a higher standard and there are fewer social issues. All in all, it is an excellent country to work in. However, whether it is the ideal place to spend your retirement is another matter; if you haven't accumulated enough capital, the high cost of living can make it very expensive.
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3 replies
@Swizzyinsg
3 weeks ago
Thank you for the interesting talk and having me on your channel
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1 reply
@joMojojojo
3 weeks ago
People moving together and building their businesses is a sign of struggle. It would be noce to stop romanticising struggle
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1 reply
@kiyoshitakeda452
3 weeks ago
"The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence", popular proverb. Not confined to a country, but a western reaction to stressful times. Works for the realistic. Interesting topic. Enjoyed. Thanks.
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1 reply
@KeinNameK.M
3 weeks ago (edited)
I am Swiss and have never understood why Switzerland is so highly praised. Switzerland is a good place to work, but what else? You can focus on your career and everyday life works well. Zurich is always shown in summer, and yes, it is great then. But that is only two, maybe three months of the year, and only if it is not a year with constant rain. Zurich has an average of 125 rain day per year. The rest of the year is forgettable. In the past, there used to be snow in winter even at lower altitudes, but today, with climate change, it's only in the mountains.
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21 replies
@inno.1552
2 weeks ago
I'm sorry so many people are criticising the background music. It is still a very good video. I learnt a lot.
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1 reply
@Baer78
2 weeks ago
Some people also leave the country to escape themselves and their lives ....and they can afford to !
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1 reply
@SuperHawk0413
4 days ago
I'm from Germany and my family moved to Switzerland about 12 years ago. We don't regret it. Most people who do move out of Germany move to Switzerland, mainly doctors, nurses and teachers but also business people. My parents moved because of salaries and lower taxes in Switzerland.
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1 reply
@Snarf-f9z
2 weeks ago
Everywhere they brag about "most happiest" country, it's just performative nonsense. Consistently, they fail upon observation. I think this "most happiest" thing is basically propaganda, so you do not question things. Uruguay seems very happy to me based on how people act, OECD ranks it as the lowest in happiness.
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1 reply
@luisfernandotapia451
4 days ago
I love the ravel string quartet 2nd movement at the background
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1 reply
In this video
Timeline
Chapters
Transcript
Emigration is growing faster than Immigration
0:00
Look at all this content.
0:01
Describing Switzerland
0:02
as the wealthiest, happiest
0:04
and even most perfect country
0:06
in the world,
0:07
known for its
0:13
No wonder
0:14
Switzerland attracts
0:15
the best and brightest to live and work.
0:17
But while foreign citizens
0:19
are flocking here, often
0:20
to build their resumes and bank
0:21
accounts, more locals are leaving
0:24
and not coming back.
0:25
I suffered so much in Switzerland.
0:28
I came to Vietnam in September.
0:31
I am officially becoming Singaporean.
0:33
I left Switzerland to come to Cameroon.
0:35
When I came to Tanzania.
0:37
We also found an apartment
0:40
villa in Thailand.
0:41
So it came down to San Francisco
0:43
or Salt Lake City.
0:45
The number of permanent residents,
0:46
including citizens leaving Switzerland,
0:49
has grown steadily each year
0:50
since 2011, with a pandemic driven
0:53
dip and subsequent rebound.
0:54
30% more permanent
0:56
residents left in 2024 compared to 2011,
0:59
the earliest available data.
1:05
is growing at a faster average
1:06
annual rate than immigration.
1:08
If you don't include the immigration
1:10
spike in 2023, driven
1:12
by an influx of about
1:13
50,000 Ukrainian refugees.
1:16
Now if you look at who's coming
1:17
and who's going,
1:18
it hints at how Switzerland
1:19
might be changing
1:21
in ways
1:21
that complicate its reputation
1:23
as the world's most perfect country.
1:26
While there are still
1:27
plenty of newcomers,
1:28
more people
1:29
who have been around for a while
1:30
are leaving. Every year,
1:32
while Switzerland is still gaining
1:33
tens of thousands of foreign citizens,
1:36
it's losing thousands of its own citizens
1:38
to other countries.
1:40
More Swiss
1:41
citizens are leaving each year
1:42
than returning. In the last seven years,
1:45
the net outflow of Swiss citizens
1:47
was 40% higher
1:49
than in the seven years prior.
1:51
I think the perception of Switzerland
1:54
in other countries
1:55
is always,
1:55
you know, the rich people,
1:57
everyone you know, like has a chalet,
1:58
everyone gets a Rolex by just being born.
2:01
Everyone has a trust fund
2:02
and it's really not like that.
2:05
The quality of life is really amazing,
2:08
but I feel like so many people
2:09
cannot really appreciate it
2:11
or be happy about it
2:13
because of all the negative aspects.
2:16
It has been a shift -
2:18
I would say,
2:19
within the last two years even more.
2:23
In this video I'll break down
2:25
why more Swiss are leaving,
2:26
where they're going,
2:27
and why Switzerland is
2:29
just one more extreme case
2:31
of what's happening
2:31
in a lot of the hottest destinations
2:33
around the world.
2:34
I'm Helen and I'm a former
2:36
CNBC video journalist
2:37
covering modern migration trends.
2:40
In other words,
2:40
where people are moving and leaving
2:42
in search of a better life.
“I never thought we would emigrate, but now we’re leaving”
2:44
Earlier this year,
2:45
I received a message from a Swiss woman
2:47
who had watched videos
2:48
I made about Vietnam,
2:49
where she moved in September 2025.
2:51
She wrote to me,
2:52
I feel like a refugee from Switzerland.
2:55
It was really bad.
2:56
I had just had to leave.
2:59
My last apartment was terrible
3:04
and I knew I had to find something else.
3:08
So I decided, no, I don't,
3:10
I just leave country.
3:12
Ella pointed me to an article
3:13
posted to Instagram
3:15
about emigration from Switzerland
3:16
from January to August 2025,
3:18
hitting a ten year high.
3:20
The hundreds of comments
3:21
echoed her sentiments.
3:23
Greetings from Mallorca.
3:24
Not a single second regretted.
3:26
I never thought we'd emigrate,
3:28
but now we're leaving.
3:29
Outwardly, the country functions perfectly.
3:31
But internally there's pressure,
3:33
control and constant stress.
3:35
Many sense that prosperity is worthless
3:37
if you lose yourself.
3:38
There were other comments
3:39
that mirrored my thoughts.
3:41
Like - I thought Switzerland
3:42
was such a dream country.
3:44
The comments hit home.
3:45
It reminded me of growing up in the U.S.
3:47
and how disillusioned
3:49
I’ve felt by the American dream
3:51
after graduating from college
3:52
with my fancy degree
3:53
and spending much of my adult life
3:55
feeling insecure in my financial future.
3:58
At the same time,
3:59
I have so much to be grateful
4:00
for growing up here.
4:02
I'm safe, comfortable,
4:04
and I've traveled the world
4:05
because my dollars
4:07
stretch far in other countries.
4:09
So while technicalities are different
4:11
between the U.S.
4:12
and Switzerland,
4:13
I get the feeling that the end result
4:15
is a similar emotional experience
4:17
for many people.
4:19
I talked to Swiss
4:19
Professor Michael Siegenthaler,
4:21
who studies migration,
4:22
and he says the growing trend of people
Reasons people are leaving
4:24
leaving Switzerland could be happening
4:26
for many very ordinary reasons.
4:28
Naturally, as more people move
4:30
in, more people will also leave.
4:32
Since migration is often temporary.
4:35
Immigrants who gained citizenship might be
4:37
returning to where they ultimately
4:37
feel more at home.
4:39
And the Swiss population is aging,
4:41
so there may be growing
4:42
numbers of older people
4:43
moving abroad to retire.
4:45
But departures from Switzerland
4:47
are accelerating at the same time
4:49
as other major changes in the country.
4:51
To find out what else could be pushing
4:53
people away,
4:54
I talked to more Swiss people who left.
4:56
That led me to Marion,
4:58
who moved to Singapore in 2022.
5:00
I grew up in a beautiful house
5:01
on Lake Zurich.
5:03
I see the lake laying in my bed.
A better life abroad
5:06
I think it's really rare
5:07
that I got the chance
5:08
to live - or grow up
5:10
in such a beautiful environment.
5:12
But Marion found a much
5:13
more luxurious life and her dream job
5:16
when she moved to Singapore,
5:17
because her boyfriend at the time
5:19
had gotten a job there.
5:20
He eventually went back to Switzerland
5:22
and they broke up
5:23
because she wanted to stay.
5:24
Marion even monetized her
5:26
moving journey.
5:27
Now she's a full time influencer
5:29
creating content
5:30
about life in Singapore
5:31
as told by a foreigner.
5:33
Hi, I'm Mary
5:34
or you can call me Swizzy,
5:35
the Swiss girl exploring Singapore.
5:37
I mean, when someone from a country
5:39
with Switzerland's reputation
5:40
says they love life elsewhere,
5:42
you naturally pay
5:43
a little more attention.
5:45
If you have a budget, a good budget,
5:46
and if you go to Switzerland on a trip -
5:48
two weeks or three weeks trip -
5:50
I truly think Switzerland deserves this
5:53
holy grail. But this is just not life.
5:55
You know, daily life.
5:56
And if you compare daily lives
5:59
and routine
5:59
in Singapore and Switzerland,
6:00
I just think
6:01
Singapore is so far ahead.
6:03
I honestly think that Singapore
6:05
is the best country in the world.
6:08
Like in Marion's case, Switzerland
6:10
has increasingly
6:11
become more of a temporary launchpad.
6:14
Somewhere to grow your career credentials
6:17
before transitioning
6:18
to live your best life
6:20
somewhere else.
6:21
What helped to build Switzerland
6:22
into the success
6:23
story and economic powerhouse
6:25
that it is today
6:26
has also helped to make the country
6:27
less livable long term
6:29
for many residents.
6:30
Switzerland has always been known
6:32
for its high costs and high salaries,
6:35
but lately wages have not kept pace
6:37
with the soaring cost
6:38
of living in major cities.
6:40
The median monthly salary across
6:42
Switzerland is about $8,000 per month
6:45
for non management positions.
6:47
Those in upper and middle management
6:48
earn nearly double.
6:50
I think Singapore
6:51
is definitely much more affordable
6:53
than Zurich,
6:54
and every time I go back to Switzerland,
6:57
especially to Zurich, it really like
6:58
hits me like a wall.
7:01
Like the prices have increased
7:02
so much over even the past three years.
7:06
I feel like every time I go back,
7:07
the cucumber is like a dollar
7:08
more expensive at the grocery store,
7:10
for example.
7:11
Health insurance,
7:12
if that's of interest of you,
7:13
I paid 550 Swiss Francs a month
7:16
for the most basic health insurance.
7:18
My mom pays - she's half private -
7:20
She pays over 1,000 USD a month.
7:23
I'm obsessed with massages.
7:24
I can get a massage for 50 - 60 SGD
7:27
which would be 250 SGD in Switzerland.
7:30
And a lot of, for example, expats
7:32
move to Zurich.
7:33
The company pays
7:34
for their apartment in the city center.
7:37
Being able to afford
7:38
really good apartments
7:39
in the city center
7:40
as a local is harder and harder.
7:43
In some ways,
7:44
Switzerland is now struggling
7:45
to keep up with its own success.
How Switzerland became so wealthy and “perfect”
7:48
To understand why,
7:49
let's look back to the past.
7:51
For decades,
7:52
the country has been known
7:53
for its quality of life,
7:54
wealth and high paying jobs.
7:56
According to this UN research paper,
7:58
the country was poor about 200 years ago,
8:00
with no natural resources.
8:03
It became one of the world's
8:04
wealthiest nations
8:05
because of competition
8:06
with international markets
8:08
and political stability.
8:10
Because of the small domestic market,
8:12
Swiss companies
8:12
were selling products abroad
8:14
and had to compete on a global scale.
8:17
Competition drove innovation and growth.
8:19
Switzerland's political stability
8:21
and reliable regulatory environment
8:24
also encouraged
8:24
investment and innovation,
8:26
because it reduced uncertainty and risk.
8:29
The country
8:29
also benefited from immigrants
8:31
and the knowledge they brought.
8:33
Switzerland's small size
8:34
and location in the center of Europe
8:36
meant people moved in and out a lot.
8:38
For example,
8:39
French refugees transformed the Swiss
8:41
watch industry.
8:43
This McKinsey report says
8:44
that because of its low taxes
8:46
and overall business
8:47
friendly environment,
8:48
into the early 2000s,
8:50
Switzerland was the most
8:51
attractive location
8:52
in Europe for multinational companies
8:54
expanding into the region.
8:56
Half chose to set up shop in Switzerland.
8:59
For example,
9:00
Google opened an office in Zurich in 2004
9:03
and now employs
9:04
about 5,000 so-called Zooglers.
9:07
Swiss and foreign
9:08
multinational companies
9:09
contribute an outsized amount
9:11
to the Swiss economy.
9:12
While they make up around
9:13
5% of companies in Switzerland,
9:16
they account for more than
9:17
one third of Swiss GDP,
9:19
about a quarter of jobs
9:20
and about half of Switzerland's
9:22
federal corporate tax revenues.
9:24
And they hire elite talent
9:25
from around the world
9:27
who earn higher than average salaries
9:29
and compete with locals
9:30
in the housing market.
9:31
Switzerland attracts
9:33
very value added intensive industries,
9:36
those that are very productive
9:38
and, you know,
9:39
there in these industries,
9:40
it's easier to pay
9:42
higher wages to begin with.
9:43
So even, you know,
9:44
a cleaning worker in those firms
9:46
is higher paid than in other firms.
9:49
These well-paid
9:50
expats are a good deal for Switzerland
9:52
because they often pay more in taxes
9:55
and then leave
9:56
before ever receiving any retirement
9:57
benefits from the state.
9:59
But while Switzerland as a country
10:01
is topping global rankings
10:02
for measures of success,
“Surviving is exhausting”
10:04
like most innovative
10:05
country for the 15th year in a row,
10:07
more of its local middle class
10:08
is feeling left behind.
10:11
I love Switzerland,
10:13
but there's a lot of reasons
10:15
why I decided to leave
10:16
Switzerland to come to Cameroon.
10:17
10 years ago,
10:18
20 years ago,
10:19
things were so different in Switzerland.
10:20
So I was working part time,
10:22
because I also had to study, and
10:24
the prices would just keep going
10:25
up, keep going up.
10:26
At the end of the month,
10:27
I barely had enough for me
10:30
to feed myself and to,
10:32
you know, just live.
10:34
You know, it's difficult.
10:35
It is very tiring when you're surviving.
10:38
Surviving is exhausting.
10:39
I didn't feel like
10:40
there was going to be a way out.
10:42
It felt like I was going to be trapped
10:43
in this situation,
10:44
in this position of just surviving.
10:46
People feel squeezed, like
10:48
especially like with families.
10:50
You see, they're so frustrated.
10:53
The people are loud.
10:54
So if they're chatting in a tram,
10:57
they are really like complaining.
10:59
Oh my God,
11:00
did you see that?
11:01
This is expensive
11:02
and that I cannot afford.
11:03
My kid always wanted this.
11:05
It's especially affecting retirees
11:08
on fixed incomes.
11:09
I left Switzerland because
11:12
I'm retired
11:14
and my pension
11:15
is not high, and with my pension
11:19
I would just sit at home
11:21
and be depressed.
11:23
Even new expats are struggling
11:25
with how their expectations
11:27
differ from reality.
11:28
So many expats are coming to Zurich
11:31
and they're struggling,
11:32
Some really come with nothing and expect
11:35
hey there are open doors.
11:36
You just,
11:37
you know, you just go through them.
11:39
No, it's harder than it seems.
11:42
Switzerland became a place
11:44
to go, to become someone -
11:45
to level up in life.
Switzerland is struggling to keep up with its own success
11:47
But its services,
11:48
infrastructure and urban
11:49
planning systems have struggled
11:51
to keep up with the country's popularity.
11:53
The cost of living has surged
11:55
due to too much demand
11:57
and not enough supply.
11:58
Deutsche Bank
11:59
ranked Zurich
12:00
as the city with the best quality of life
12:02
in the world
12:03
before the pandemic.
12:04
Zurich and Geneva have slipped
12:06
to number eight
12:06
and number six, respectively, in 2025
12:09
because of their cost of living.
12:11
These are the average costs
12:12
of certain goods in Zurich,
12:14
Switzerland's largest city,
12:15
and how much prices have increased
12:17
in five years.
12:18
The Zurich housing
12:19
market is in bubble territory,
12:21
while the Geneva market is overvalued.
12:24
For one, the population has grown faster
12:27
than the country's ability
12:28
to comfortably accommodate everyone,
12:30
doubling in 77 years from 1947 to 2024.
12:34
Net migration
12:35
as a share of the local population -
12:37
there's very few countries
12:39
worldwide that have had
12:40
similar immigration rates.
12:42
Half of the people living in Zurich
12:44
are foreigners.
12:46
You walk along the Limmat River
12:47
and you hear people
12:48
speaking to each other.
12:49
The probability that somebody is
12:52
speaking Swiss-German,
12:53
the local language, is really
12:55
it's less than 50%.
12:58
And it's not just immigration
12:59
that has added strain to the system,
13:01
but also the growth in people
13:02
living alone,
13:03
meaning that more housing units
13:05
are needed for the same number of people.
13:07
Single person
13:08
households have almost quadrupled
13:10
since 1970,
13:11
while the number of households
13:13
with children under 25
13:15
has almost stayed the same.
13:16
And housing construction
13:17
is not keeping up.
13:19
First of all, only 5% of Swiss
13:21
territory is even zoned for building.
13:23
Secondly, the building process
13:25
is getting slower and slower
13:27
because of bureaucracy
13:28
and the strong public resistance
13:30
to increasing density.
13:32
This is how long it took
13:33
to approve
13:33
a building application
13:34
in 2023, 70% longer than in 2010.
13:38
The housing vacancy rate has fallen
13:40
for the fifth year in a row
13:42
to 1% nationwide,
13:43
and it's even worse in major cities.
13:46
UBS does not see a turning point
13:48
in sight for the housing market,
13:49
as Switzerland
13:50
continues to attract a steady flow
13:52
of international firms,
13:55
especially in IT and AI.
13:56
The struggle
13:57
to find a suitable apartment
13:58
in Zurich pushed Ella
14:00
to move to Vietnam in 2025.
14:02
As a self-employed,
14:04
it's not easy to find an apartment.
14:07
In my age, with my
14:10
banking account situation,
14:14
it will be really a struggle.
14:18
So I decided, no, I don't - I just leave.
14:22
Switzerland is famous
14:24
for its social safety net,
14:25
including social security and welfare,
14:28
which offer
14:28
financial support
14:29
in case of old age, unemployment,
14:32
disability, illness,
14:33
parenthood or low income.
14:35
But it covers basic survival.
14:37
You won’t fall, but you won't fly.
14:39
You are just able to come over the month.
14:44
To maintain their standard
14:46
of living amid rising costs,
14:48
locals are finding creative
14:49
ways to adapt.
How the Swiss are adapting
14:51
I always say like,
14:52
find the comfort in the discomfort.
14:54
You basically have to adapt
14:56
and most probably people aren’t used
15:00
to get told that. I mean, like telling you
15:03
that you have to slow down
15:05
or put your standards
15:06
a little bit low,
15:07
or you don't go out every day -
15:10
like I'm being controlled.
15:11
Oh my God, I want to do whatever I want.
15:14
So it's like, nope.
15:17
You need to learn that basically.
15:19
People are just starting to do
15:21
whatever they could. For example -
15:23
so if someone has a free bedroom,
15:27
okay, can we move in together?
15:29
So many are starting
15:30
their own businesses.
15:31
Like even a friend -
15:32
like she lost her job
15:34
and she is now so much into sports.
15:37
And she's requesting like,
15:39
the brands to sponsor her.
15:41
A girl I know -
15:42
so she started her own cake business
15:44
and she got super successful.
15:45
She’s working with brands.
15:47
They’re booking her for events.
15:49
Yeah. Next week she works in a bar.
15:51
People are driving and striving
15:54
through their passions.
15:55
And another creative solution?
15:57
Moving abroad.
15:58
In 2024,
15:59
11.2% of Swiss citizens lived abroad.
16:02
These were the top destinations
16:04
for Swiss citizens in 2024.
16:08
Dietrich is one of 95 Swiss
16:11
citizens who moved to Tanzania in 2024.
16:14
My my pension from Switzerland
16:15
is is is is more money than,
16:18
a high officer of the state
16:20
here earns monthly.
16:22
We live here at the coast
16:24
and I have the Indian Ocean.
16:26
There’s a very beautiful beach club here.
16:28
There’s also a park here.
16:30
We have nice zebras
16:32
you can touch and giraffes and antelopes.
16:35
In Switzerland last years, I had a little problem
16:38
of high blood pressure.
16:39
And I got doctor to give me medication.
16:43
against high blood pressure.
16:45
And then when I went to Tanzania,
16:47
I forgot to take the medication.
16:50
But after three days, I measured -
16:52
I see my blood pressure was absolutely okay.
16:55
And I called my doctor,
16:58
and he said okay,
16:59
you can try to stop the medication.
17:01
And now I have no more medication
17:04
for blood pressure, but never,
17:06
never any problem.
17:08
Yeah! It’s the way of life here!
17:10
Live in Switzerland is stress.
17:12
This isn't just a Swiss story.
17:14
It's happening in superstar
17:15
cities around the world.
17:17
The knowledge economy clusters
17:18
opportunity in key cities.
17:20
High earners move in, costs
17:22
go up and more of the middle
17:23
class moves abroad.
17:25
And that's the privilege of being Swiss
17:27
or American.
17:28
Even as home becomes less livable,
17:30
you've got options
17:31
to stretch your money further abroad.
17:33
You can go where you want to go.
17:36
That's something that's -
17:38
you know, for many people,
17:39
at least in our sphere, it's it's
17:42
natural and it's, it's just a given.
17:44
But that's actually for a large part of the
17:47
of the world's population.
17:48
That's not true.
17:49
they really are stuck in the place
17:51
they are.
17:51
They are not even wanted in the place
17:52
they are.
17:54
That's what hit me
17:55
after traveling the world for two years
17:57
and just seeing how many people
17:59
don't have an exit strategy at all.
18:02
And even if you don't want to leave,
18:04
at least you're fighting harder
18:05
to stay in a world class city.
18:07
I love Zurich overall, so that's
18:09
I think that's the bottom line as well.
18:11
Like it's
18:12
it's the best city in the world.