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A distracted, divided U.S. is no match for China’s long-term plan for domination

36 points| johnshades | 6 years ago |fastcompany.com | reply

20 comments

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[+] mark_l_watson|6 years ago|reply
I agree with the tone of the article but a better related article is linked on the same page, by MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte: https://www.fastcompany.com/90344450/dont-ban-huawei-do-this...

Although I was in China for one week and enjoyed it, the culture feels very foreign to me because the people there seem so happy to give up privacy and any control of their government, as long as their middle class keeps growing. There is a lot of pride in China.

The problem of our not having long term planning is very real, and one of the nice things about our culture, having some degree of privacy and protections on data, will hold us back in the race to develop increasingly effective AI. I have been working in the field of AI for 30+ years and to see China catching up so fast is disturbing. We are ahead, I think, in basic research, but they are ahead in consumer facing AI. I think most people in the USA don’t read technical AI papers coming out of China and see demos of their consumer facing tech.

We really need to up our game, and do it quickly as far as more corporation and US government cooperation, more funding, etc. And long term, we absolutely have to start investing more resources in our educational system.

[+] _iyig|6 years ago|reply
>I think most people in the USA don’t read technical AI papers coming out of China and see demos of their consumer facing tech

I fall into this category. Could you point to some examples?

[+] aussiegreenie|6 years ago|reply
What utter bullshit. China will lucky to a unified country in 10 years, from 1919 - 1948 China was ruled by Warlordism and civil war. Uncle Xi has destroyed what little credibility the CCP ever had.

China is big, poor and is getting old, quickly.

[+] jimmydef|6 years ago|reply
" It’s no wonder China continues to try to hack our elections, steal tech IP, and use social media to sow discontent at every level of politics. "

He might have mistaken China for Russia.

[+] eljimmy|6 years ago|reply
IMO, China will never dominate anything if they continue to limit the free thinking of their citizens.
[+] thenanyu|6 years ago|reply
They dominate plenty of industries today. What are you getting at with this statement?
[+] bfung|6 years ago|reply
Somewhat agree. They can dominate simple things with shear quantity alone. “Big data” is truly big in China. Quality, however, is still suspect. For example, from 10 years ago: https://m.chron.com/news/nation-world/article/Chinese-ask-Wh...

Chinese movies have gotten slightly better, like this year in 2019 having some blockbusters - but not international blockbusters.

Another data point on the quality front is the struggle of China being able to produce reliable jet engines. (Google it, recent news)

[+] identity_zero|6 years ago|reply
I agree, they only copy. But hey, the police state in Xinjiang is really helping them push their development of AI.
[+] identity_zero|6 years ago|reply
The only way the US can win is by moving past the culture wars and returning to an accelerating society. Other Western countries have already given up (Germany, Italy, and Portugal have sided with China by signing up for the Belt and Road and using Huawei equipment. Probably more countries to come)

I really hope the chaos we're going through is a cathartic release from the period of economic stagnation that we've been in for the past 40 - 50 years. I disagree with AOC on almost everything but her Green New Deal had one aspect worth praising. There was a bit harking for a return to American Greatness (Apollo program, etc.) Not too far from Trump's "Make America Great Again". The US is still united in its underlying goals but people are divided on how we get there.

"Americans will always do the right thing." - Winston Churchill.

The US is returning to space again, this time built on the ambitions of two of the world's most successful living entrepreneurs (Bezos and Musk). Perhaps this will be the inspiring force driving Americans back to a focus on technological innovation. Anything is possible, but this is my bet.

[+] gonvaled|6 years ago|reply
Why is Huawei equipement more dangerous than American equipement?

Why should Europe follow American policy?

(I am European)

[+] cylinder|6 years ago|reply
This is the problem with Americans, banking on pie in the sky fantasies from billionaires. Meanwhile promising kids get killed in school and people die needlessly due to lack of healthcare, at enormous costs to society. Basic, fundamental stuff!