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Keith Wheelock's avatar

Jim I just posted a sizable historical analysis of China and the West a few minutes ago on Heather Cox Richardson’s Substack. [Available by clicking Keith Wheelock, Notes. Also I have posted WIZARD OF OZ/LIZARD OF OOZE, which has a different timbre.] We have just bought a condo and are in the ‘moving process’ including fixing up and selling our home of 26 years.

To be brief: I consider China is at war with the West and also seeks to dominate in Asia.

In 1750 China had the largest economy in the world. The following two centuries were not good for China, as the West exploded with technology and imperial push.

China, for 1000s of years had an imperial country—long before the Roman Empire. The Chinese Civil Service Exam System functioned well for 1600 years before England and the United States had a rudimentary civil service system.

From the Opium Wars in 1840s, the Boxer Rebellion in the 1890s, the collapse of the imperial government, and further humiliations, including the Japanese invasion in the 1930s, China has been treated badly by the West and others.

Mao was a major change—authoritarian rule with the loss of tens of millions of Chinese lives. Then came Deng/Zhou economic reformers. For well over a generation, China experienced the fastest economic growth of any country in world history. With some reluctance, China entered some international organizations.

The West ‘thought’ that China would be a junior partner in Western organizations. NOT. Especially under Xi, an overriding rule from the top has re-emerged. I consider Xi’s China at war with the West and intent to dominate in greater Asia.

Tik Tok is simply one aspect of this war. The Chinese are intent to subvert, steal, and ‘cheat’ in a struggle in which they see Chinese ascendency and Western dependency.

There is virtually nothing on which I would trust ‘common self interest’ agreements with China. My fear is that, if internal matters go badly fort China, the nationalist shibboleth will take center stage—Taiwan and against its major Western enemy—the United States.

I recall the Cold War where the US had dicey relations with the Soviet Union. We didn’t trust them and, certainly with Stalin, vice versa.

That’s where I think we are with China. In dealing with them, at least we should back into the room so that we can only be front stabbed, while our back is protected.

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Diana B.'s avatar

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-The Best Tech Quotes of the Year Wired, 2018

Nicholas Thompson

- " Fourteen memorable lines, from an ethicist ruing the use of CRISPR to edit a baby's genes, to Elon Musk's 'plan' to take Tesla private. "

https://www.wired.com/story/best-tech-quotes-of-the-year

quotes:

- #1. “The red line is miles behind us now. It’s no longer in sight.”

—Helen O’Neill, Crispr expert, after the first Crispr’d babies were born. November 29

- “How long is the wait usually to, um, be seated?”

—Google’s AI-powered Duplex, in a jaw-dropping demonstration of just how far voice-recognition has come.

- “A sense of open-ended mystery in reality and in life is absolutely core to being a good scientist or a good technologist or, for that matter, a good writer, a good artist, or just a good human being.”

—Jaron Lanier, the creator of VR, and now one of the philosophers of the industry.

- “We are now facing not just a technological crisis but a philosophical crisis.”

—Yuval Noah Harari, surely the most-read author in Silicon Valley, in conversation with Tristan Harris, surely one of the most influential voices of the past year

- “Congressman, iPhone is made by a different company.”

—Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, explaining why he can’t explain notifications on a device made by Apple. December 11

- “Nothing is ever real until he sends the tweet.”

—A member of the Trump administration, natch. November 13

- “I would rather spend time with the people that are 100 percent aligned with what I want to do and the person that’s most aligned with what I want to do is me.”

—Chamath Palihapitiya, CEO of Social Capital, explaining the turmoil at his firm. September 20

- “I live with a beginner’s mind. I didn’t realize two weeks ago I was going to buy Time.”

—Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce and now the owner of Time. September 17

- “Avoid at ALL COSTS any mention or implication of AI. Weaponized AI is probably one of the most sensitized topics of AI—if not THE most. This is red meat to the media to find all ways to damage Google.”

—Fei Fei Li, an AI pioneer at Google, in an email to colleagues about the company’s controversial work on a Defense Department initiative called Project Maven. Published May 30

- “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.”

—Elon Musk, tweeting while driving to the airport. August 7

- “Senator, we run ads.”

—Mark Zuckerberg, in congressional testimony, explaining what the company actually does. The phrase quickly became a punchline at Facebook.

- “While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication.”

—Sanofi, the maker of Ambien, responding to claims by Roseanne Barr that the drug may have inspired a Twitter rant.

- “I sold my users’ privacy to a larger benefit. I made a choice and a compromise. And I live with that every day.”

—Brian Acton, founder of WhatsApp, on his regrets

-end-

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