Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

TagChina

kashgar-china-with-more-than-80-of-the-population-made-by-uyghurs-kashgar-displays-a-lot-of-islamic-landmarks-here-in-particular-the-id-kah-mosque-the-biggest-mosque-in-china-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Kashgar, China - with more than 80% of the population made by Uyghurs, Kashgar displays a lot of Islamic landmarks. Here in particular the Id Kah Mosque, the biggest mosque in China
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
February 3, 2021
Categorized
Data Privacy, Global Technology, Surveillance
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Leaked Police Database: Total Surveillance of China’s Uyghurs

Human Rights Watch notes that many countries engage in human rights abuses, but “more than any other government, Beijing has made technology central to its repression.”
Heather Zeiger
February 3, 2021
8
Data Privacy, Global Technology, Surveillance

Human Rights Watch has released its 2021 annual report of global human rights abuses in 2020. In his keynote article, Executive Director Kenneth Roth said “this has been the darkest period for human rights in China since the 1989 massacre that ended the Tiananmen Square democracy movement.” The report outlines several ways that the Chinese Communist Party has repressed Chinese citizens. Among those are the Uyghurs, an ethnically Turkish majority Muslim people living in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in western China. The CCP continues to use every means, including massive technological surveillance, to control the Uyghur population. This is the second year that China has been one of the biggest offenders of human rights. Last year’s keynote article pointed out Read More ›

global-virus-and-disease-spread-coronavirus-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Global virus and disease spread, coronavirus
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
January 26, 2021
Categorized
Medicine and Health, Science, Technocracy
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How China Has Tried To Suppress Coronavirus Science

So far as investigative journalists have been able to determine, the suppression came directly from the top
Heather Zeiger
January 26, 2021
10
Medicine and Health, Science, Technocracy

An investigation by the Associated Press reveals what everyone has suspected since the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus) pandemic: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been keeping a tight rein on the publication or distribution of any scientific research on the coronavirus conducted within the country. AP recently found out just how extensive the muzzling of scientific findings has been. Its report also confirms that the orders came from the top: The AP investigation was based on dozens of interviews with Chinese and foreign scientists and officials, along with public notices, leaked emails, internal data and the documents from China’s cabinet and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It reveals a pattern of government secrecy and top-down control Read More ›

covid-19-coronavirus-in-china-renminbi-yuan-money-bill-with-face-mask-covid-global-stock-market-world-economy-hit-by-corona-virus-outbreak-financial-crisis-and-coronavirus-pandemic-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpeg
COVID-19 coronavirus in China, renminbi yuan money bill with face mask. COVID global stock market. World economy hit by corona virus outbreak. Financial crisis and coronavirus pandemic concept.
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
January 20, 2021
Categorized
Technocracy
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Lawyer Turned Citizen Journalist in China Turns Up Again—in Jail

She has been sentenced to four years in prison for “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble,” a crime in China
Heather Zeiger
January 20, 2021
10
Technocracy

Lawyer-turned-citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, 37, went missing on May 15 after documenting on Youtube, Twitter, and WeChat what she saw in Wuhan during the early days of the SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus) pandemic. She has now been sentenced to four years in prison for “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble.” Zhang had already been detained for supporting the 2019 Hong Kong protests, which likely played into her harsh sentence. So far, 47 journalists have been jailed for reporting on COVID-19 in China. YouTube and Twitter are inaccessible within China because of the Great Firewall which allows the Communist Party of China (CCP) to control the information that comes into and goes out of the country. Within the Great Firewall journalists must adhere Read More ›

the-concept-of-biased-views-judged-by-appearances-various-miniature-people-standing-behind-the-glasses-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
The concept of biased views judged by appearances. Various miniature people standing behind the glasses.
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
December 30, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance
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How Bias Can Be Coded Into Unthinking Programs

MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini started the project as a trivial “bathroom mirror” message
Heather Zeiger
December 30, 2020
7
Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance

Coded Bias, a new documentary by 7th Empire Media that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2020, looks at the ways algorithms and machine learning can perpetuate racism, sexism, and infringements on civil liberties. The film calls for accountability and transparency in artificial intelligence systems, which are algorithms that sift large amounts of data to make predictions, as well as regulations on how these systems can be used and who has access to the data. The documentary follows the path of MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini. Buolamwini took a class on science fiction and technology in which one of her assignments was to create a piece of technology that isn’t necessarily useful but is inspired by science fiction. Buolamwini Read More ›

mosquito-stuck-in-honey-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Mosquito stuck in honey
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
December 16, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance
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Hi Tech and China: The Long Game re Spying in the United States

The relationship between California’s Eric Swalwell and Fang Fang could be a thriller. But they say it really happened
Heather Zeiger
December 16, 2020
8
Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance

An investigative report from news site Axios reveals that Christine Fang (better known as Fang Fang), a fundraiser for Representative Eric Swalwell (D.–California), not only interacted with political elites in California but cultivated relationships with two Midwestern governors. She is also accused of being a spy for China from 2011 to 2015. This story adds to the growing evidence that China is playing the long-game of influencing American politics: Start with promising figures at the bottom, not at the top: The case demonstrates China’s strategy of cultivating relationships that may take years or even decades to bear fruit. The Chinese Communist Party knows that today’s mayors and city council members are tomorrow’s governors and members of Congress.” Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian and Read More ›

chinese-english-bible-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Chinese English Bible.
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
December 6, 2020
Categorized
Religion, Technocracy
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China’s Door-to-Door Census Now Identifies Religious Believers

Census takers are urged to keep their eyes open for evidence of religious activity
Heather Zeiger
December 6, 2020
7
Religion, Technocracy

China will complete its seventh census, begun on November 1, on December 10. New features that have prompted concern include: Residents must indicate whether they have family members in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan or if they have any family members outside of the country and those who are over sixty must indicate their state of health (Reuters, November 2, 2020). Some have resisted answering census takers’ questions for fear of losing rights and privileges under the new Social Credit System. But more than that, some seven million census takers go door-to-door, interviewing residents and entering information that goes directly to the government via mobile apps. Bitter Winter talked to several census takers who said they were instructed to pay Read More ›

concept-of-a-futuristic-quantum-data-center-supercomputer-running-with-physical-waves-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Concept of a futuristic quantum data center, supercomputer running with physical waves
Type
post
Author
News
Date
December 4, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Programming
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Why Google’s “Quantum Supremacy” Isn’t Changing Much—Not Yet

Quantum computing was suggested by physicist Richard Feynman in 1982; the supremacy battles are quite recent
News
December 4, 2020
6
Artificial Intelligence, Programming

In last week’s podcast, “Enrique Blair on quantum computing,” Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks talks with fellow computer engineer Enrique Blair about why quantum mechanics is so strange but important to our future. One thing they discussed was Google’s claim to quantum supremacy. What does it mean? Does it matter? https://episodes.castos.com/mindmatters/Mind-Matters-110-Enrique-Blair.mp3 The discussion of quantum supremacy begins at approximately 47:55. The Show Notes and transcript follow. Excerpts from the transcript: Robert J. Marks (pictured): Google recently announced they had achieved quantum supremacy. What is quantum supremacy, and how does that relate to the quantum computer and the other computers that we use today? Enrique Blair: It’s a pretty interesting buzzword. Maybe the first thing to mention is what Read More ›

fembot-robot-playing-chess-with-woman-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Fembot Robot Playing Chess with Woman
Type
post
Author
News
Date
November 27, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Philosophy of Mind
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Are Computers That Win at Chess Smarter Than Geniuses?

No, and we need to look at why they can win at chess without showing even basic common sense
News
November 27, 2020
5
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Philosophy of Mind

Big computers conquered chess quite easily. But then there was the Chinese game of go (pictured), estimated to be 4000 years old, which offers more “degrees of freedom” (possible moves, strategy, and rules) than chess (2×10170). As futurist George Gilder tells us, in Gaming AI, it was a rite of passage for aspiring intellects in Asia: “Go began as a rigorous rite of passage for Chinese gentlemen and diplomats, testing their intellectual skills and strategic prowess. Later, crossing the Sea of Japan, Go enthralled the Shogunate, which brought it into the Japanese Imperial Court and made it a national cult.” (p. 9) Then AlphaGo, from Google’s DeepMind, appeared on the scene in 2016: As the Chinese American titan Kai-Fu Lee Read More ›

digital-world-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
digital world
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
November 25, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Data Privacy, Global Technology, Surveillance
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China’s Eyes Are Watching Africa Closely

In exchange for help with high-tech communication systems, China gets to install mass surveillance technology
Heather Zeiger
November 25, 2020
7
Artificial Intelligence, Data Privacy, Global Technology, Surveillance

Depending on who you talk to, the twenty-year relationship between China and several countries in the African Union has been described as everything from mutually beneficial to asymmetric and dysfunctional right down to exploitative and neo-colonialist. Recent pre-COVID-19 surveys indicate that citizens of several African nations see their country’s interaction with China as largely positive. But if some African science fiction writers are any indicator, others see a dystopian future. The current onslaught of high-tech surveillance technologies from China provides a chance to compare the two views. Recently, I have written about racial tensions between African nationals and local government in Guangzhou amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and about how the pandemic has worsened African countries’ debt crisis, particularly due to Read More ›

rolled-yuan-bill-on-the-map-of-africa-chinese-investment-in-african-economy-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Rolled Yuan bill on the map of Africa. Chinese investment in African economy
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
November 13, 2020
Categorized
Business and Finance, Global Technology
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China and Africa: Debt-Trap Diplomacy?

The story of China helping Africa modernize resists simple formulas
Heather Zeiger
November 13, 2020
8
Business and Finance, Global Technology

Last week, I reported on the accusations of racism on the part of the the Chinese authorities against African residents of the city of Guangzhou in Guangdong province. While Africa and China have enjoyed a seemingly amicable relationship since the 1970s, several African leaders have pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic as highlighting unresolved underlying tensions. One of those tensions is several African countries’ debt burden. China’s response to requests for deferral in the midst of a pandemic has strained Sino-African relations. China isn’t the African countries’ only creditor. As of this writing, G20 leaders will be meeting to discuss debt-relief and extending the Debt Suspension Service Initiative (DSSI). The service has deferred debt payments by poor countries due to the Read More ›

blockchain-technology-information-blocks-in-digital-space-decentralized-global-network-cyberspace-data-protection-3d-illustration-with-elements-of-a-binary-code-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Blockchain technology. Information blocks in digital space. Decentralized global network. Cyberspace data protection. 3D illustration with elements of a binary code
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post
Author
News
Date
November 12, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Global Technology
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While the West Hesitates, China Is Moving to Blockchain

Life After Google by George Gilder, advocating blockchain, became a best seller in China and received a social sciences award
News
November 12, 2020
7
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Global Technology

In this week’s podcast, “George Gilder on blockchain and carbon computing,” tech philosopher George Gilder and computer engineer Robert J. Marks, our Walter Bradley Center director, continued their discussion of the impact of artificial intelligence (AI). This time, they focused on the future of blockchain, of quantum computing, and carbon computing.What difference will they make? Quite a lot it seems. Today, we will look at what happens when blockchain goes global. You can download Gilder’s new book, Gaming AI, for free here. The three earlier episodes and transcripts in this series are also linked below. And so now… https://episodes.castos.com/mindmatters/Mind-Matters-108-George-Gilder.mp3 Gilder and Marks discussed both the huge surge of interest in blockchain in China and the central weakness of Bitcoin, whose Read More ›

with-the-global-spread-of-the-new-coronavirus-pneumonia-an-automated-line-of-disposable-medical-masks-makes-the-masks-ready-for-an-epidemic-24-hours-a-day-covid-19-outbreak-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
With the global spread of the new coronavirus pneumonia, an automated line of disposable medical masks makes the masks ready for an epidemic 24 hours a day, COVID-19 outbreak
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post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
November 5, 2020
Categorized
Ethics, Global Technology, Medicine and Health, Surveillance
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COVID-19 Response Exposes Racism in China, amid Harmony Claims

The lid blew off when African leaders broke the accustomed silence imposed by their dependence on Chinese high-tech loans
Heather Zeiger
November 5, 2020
8
Ethics, Global Technology, Medicine and Health, Surveillance

The coronavirus COVID-19 epidemic has exposed two longstanding ugly problems: underlying racist views of Africans living in China and the burden debt to China lays on several African countries. The key flashpoints creating tension between China and Africa are 1) Mistreatment of citizens of African countries living in China, particularly in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province (pictured) and 2) Beijing’s position on granting debt relief to countries in Africa so they can direct resources to dealing with the coronavirus. In one incident, Nigeria’s speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, posted a video of himself summoning Chinese Ambassador Zhou Pingjian to his office where he expressed his displeasure about a Nigerian man being evicted from his home. While nobody Read More ›

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Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
October 12, 2020
Categorized
Global Technology, Programming, Social Media, Surveillance, Technocracy
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China: COVID-19’s True History Finds an Unlikely Home — GitHub

The Chinese Communist party, rewriting the COVID-19 story with itself as the hero, must reckon with truthful techies
Heather Zeiger
October 12, 2020
9
Global Technology, Programming, Social Media, Surveillance, Technocracy

For a brief window of time at the beginning of 2020, China’s internet censors didn’t block stories about Wuhan and COVID-19, the coronavirus. Caixin, a widely-read news magazine, published a multi-page investigative report on everything leading up to the outbreak, including the way in which the provincial authorities in Hubei, of which Wuhan is the capital, suppressed knowledge of the virus. Fang Fang, an award-winning novelist, kept a Wuhan diary online on Weibo, which was recently published as a book in the U.S. (HarperCollins 2020). For that short time, comments on the coronavirus were not being censored (Wired) at WeChat. Many people were thus able to vent their frustrations and pay their respects when 32-year-old ophthalmologist and whistleblower Li Wenliang Read More ›

sunset-on-a-yurt-in-the-grassland-of-mongolia-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
sunset on a yurt , in the grassland of Mongolia
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
September 28, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Education, Global Technology, Social Media, Surveillance, Technocracy
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High-Tech Suppression of China’s Mongol Region Provokes Protests

But Mongolian protesters against Chinese-dominated schools are threatened with loss of social credit, which means no jobs or loans
Heather Zeiger
September 28, 2020
8
Artificial Intelligence, Education, Global Technology, Social Media, Surveillance, Technocracy

China is removing the Mongolian language and culture from the curriculum and textbooks in Inner Mongolia (see outline map), an autonomous region in China. In August, leaked government documents showed that language and literature, civics, and history will be taught in Mandarin rather than Mongolian in schools where Mongolian is the primary language. Additionally, the new textbooks replace stories about historic Mongolian heroes with Chinese ballads and expunge a popular folk verse that expresses pride in the Mongolian culture and language. In response, many parents in Inner Mongolia (called Southern Mongolia locally) have been keeping their children from attending school on September 1. In retaliation, state authorities threaten their jobs and social credit status: Southern Mongolia has quickly become a Read More ›

kung fu bamboo stick.jpg
kung fu bamboo stick.jpg
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
September 19, 2020
Categorized
Ethics, Global Technology, Technocracy
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Mulan: Disney Talks Freedom at Home, Toes the Line in China

Films we see get altered in subtle and not-so-subtle ways to conform to the requirements of CCP propaganda
Heather Zeiger
September 19, 2020
10
Ethics, Global Technology, Technocracy

China’s government allows only about thirty-four Hollywood movies to be shown in Chinese theaters. As a result, entertainment companies like Disney go out of their way to make sure a film appeals to both North American crowds and Chinese Communist Party’s censors. Of course, what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) allows and doesn’t allow in films is vague and subject to change, which keeps foreign film-makers guessing. Mulan, Disney’s latest attempt to please both the North American and the Chinese market, has failed to do either, for a number of reasons. Financially, Disney is already hurting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Theaters in the U.S. either remain closed or permit only limited-capacity seating. In response, Disney released Mulan on its streaming Read More ›

close-up-view-of-robot-playing-chess-selective-focus-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
close-up view of robot playing chess, selective focus
Type
podcast
Author
Robert J. Marks and Larry L. Linenschmidt
Date
August 27, 2020
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Bingecast: Robert J. Marks on the Limitations of Artificial Intelligence

Robert J. Marks and Larry L. Linenschmidt
August 27, 2020
2

Robert J. Marks talks with Larry L. Linenschmidt of the Hill Country Institute about nature and limitations of artificial intelligence from a computer science perspective including the misattribution of creativity and understanding to computers. Other Larry L. Linenschmidt podcasts from the Hill Country Institute are available at HillCountryInstitute.org. We appreciate the permission of the Hill Country Institute to rebroadcast this Read More ›

Digital globe with mosaic of images
Digital globe with mosaic of images
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
August 26, 2020
Categorized
Data Privacy, Global Technology, Social Media, Surveillance
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Why Some Nation States Are Banning TikTok

The United States is not alone in questioning the social medium’s allegiance to the Chinese government
Heather Zeiger
August 26, 2020
10
Data Privacy, Global Technology, Social Media, Surveillance

Why is TikTok so controversial? It’s the first Chinese technology company that has reached a billion users outside of China. Its main demographic is Generation Z—teens and twenty-somethings. If you take a look at TikTok videos, most are goofy and irreverent. They’re frenetic shorts of everything from fashion tips to pranks and, of course, (bad) dancing. TikTok’s stated mission is to “inspire creativity and bring joy.” What could go wrong? Here’s what. Working with China, as Disney and the NBA can attest, comes with certain strings attached, including acquiescing to the Chinese Communist Party’s rules for acceptable speech. Because ByteDance, which owns TikTok, is a Chinese company (although partly owned by investors from the U.S. and Japan), the Chinese Communist Read More ›

futuristic-science-fiction-bedroom-interior-with-planet-earth-view-in-space-station-3d-rendering-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Futuristic Science Fiction Bedroom Interior with Planet Earth View in Space Station, 3D Rendering
Type
post
Author
News
Date
August 8, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture
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When Science Fiction Comes to Life…

Truth is not only stranger than fiction, it sometimes grows out of it
News
August 8, 2020
7
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

A senior editor at Wired told us a while back that science fiction writer H. G. Wells’s 1914 tale, The World Set Free, formed part of the inspiration for the atomic bomb, exploded over Hiroshima in 1945. … in the novel Wells imagines a new kind of bomb, based on a nuclear chain reaction. In this science fiction story Wells imagines that atomic energy would be discovered in 1933 (20 years in his future), and that the bomb would first explode in 1956. Wikipedia notes, “As fate or coincidence would have it, in reality the physicist Leó Szilárd read the book in 1932, conceived of the idea of nuclear chain reaction in 1933, and filed for patents on it in Read More ›

china-stock-market-graph-ticker-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
China stock market graph ticker
Type
post
Author
News
Date
July 31, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Ethics, Technocracy
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Tech Investment Analysts Strategize How to Deal With China Today

China’s assertions of power in recent years have left many uncertain about the future of business relationships
News
July 31, 2020
5
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Ethics, Technocracy

Recently, Jay Richards interviewed Dr. Bob Kelly, Managing Partner of Ignition Partners, focusing on the panel he moderated at COSM 2019,“The Crisis of Big Tech: The US and China.” They explored the technological competition between the U.S. and China and what it means for the future. The panelists were futurist George Gilder, Wendy Liu, China market strategy analyst at multinational investment bank UBS, and Gary Rieschel, a venture capitalist in China and the United States. From the interview: Jay Richards: So what was the core controversy if you had to summarize it neutrally? Bob Kelly: I guess I’d say the core controversy really is what stance do we as Americans, or in the technology arena, take towards China? And there’s Read More ›

binary-code-with-china-flag-data-protection-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Binary code with China flag, data protection concept
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
July 30, 2020
Categorized
Surveillance
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Charges Reveal Extent of China-Sponsored Hacking in the West

Targets have included COVID-19 labs, dissidents, and religious groups
Heather Zeiger
July 30, 2020
7
Surveillance
What’s new about the most recent indictment is the acknowledgment that China is working with known cybercriminals. Read More ›