Tag: China | Page 4 | Mind Matters

electric vehicle of the future using smart electric car charging station at home frontal perspective

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News
Date
March 3, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Environment

Tagged
Apple (company), Autonomous Vehicles, Baidu, Batteries (electric cars), Britain, China, Daimler, Electric vehicles, Jonathan Bartlett, self-driving cars}

Apple Is Once Again Eyeing the Smart Car Market

_{Other firms are jumping in or ramping up and, with the fog from the COVID-19 pandemic clearing, we are looking out at a broader array of new vehicle plans} _{News
March 3, 2021

5

Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Environment}

Early in February, rumor had it that Apple is once again eyeing the smart car market, both electric and self-driving. Improved batteries and new environment regulations might make smart cars a promising new business area. According to USA Today, the “iCar” is certain to be an electric vehicle costing over $40,000. The self-driving part is more of a challenge: But a self-driving car could introduce a “longer timeframe” in part due to Apple CEO Tim Cook’s cautious approach to unveiling new products, Ives said. Automakers and tech companies have yet to solve the thorniest challenges associated with autonomous driving. Nathan Bomey, “Is Apple making an electric, self-driving car? If it does, here are 5 things you could see” at USA Read More ›

Asian woman is wearing facial mask during virus epidemic

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Heather Zeiger
Date
March 1, 2021

Categorized
Media, Medicine and Health, Science

Tagged
China, COVID-19, COVID-19 lab leak hypothesis, Featured, Peter Ben Embarek, Peter Daszak, SARS-CoV-2, WHO COVID-19 investigation in China, World Health Organization (WHO), Wuhan Institute of Virology}

Was the WHO Investigation of COVID-19’s Origin Thwarted by China?

_{The World Health Organization team was not really allowed to conduct a proper investigation in China} _{Heather Zeiger
March 1, 2021

11

Media, Medicine and Health, Science}

On January 14, 2021, an international team from the World Health Organization (WHO) landed in Wuhan in Hubei province in China to investigate the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus which causes COVID-19. From the outset, the investigation was plagued with three issues: 1) It ‘s been a year since the outbreak in Wuhan, which makes an investigation into the origins of the outbreak difficult. 2) WHO has catered to the Chinese government since the beginning of the pandemic, and 3) the scientists involved in the investigation had to be approved by Beijing. Two of them had conflicts of interest. When the WHO team arrived, they faced additional barriers to a thorough investigation. They were quarantined for two weeks so they Read More ›

Social scoring and rating symbol abstract 3d illustration

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Caitlin Cory
Date
February 19, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance

Tagged
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), China, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), facial recognition systems, Featured, Rod Dreher, Social credit score, surveillance capitalism, Uyghurs, Uyghurs in "re-education" camps}

Face recognition: Is the U.S. Copying China’s Surveillance State?

_{Although facial recognition (and the resulting “social credit score”) prevail in China, the technology is getting pushback in America} _{Caitlin Cory
February 19, 2021

8

Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance}

In a recent article, I recounted the story of Dana Kurtbek, who has faced harassment from the DHS and the FBI after facial recognition technology and anonymous reports placed her inside the Capitol Building during the riot on January 6th. By her own account, she never came closer than a mile from the Capitol. She expressed concern to Mind Matters News that the continuing harassment may have resulted from neighbors who disagree with her pro-Trump views reporting her to the federal government. Facial recognition technology and neighbors as informants may sound strange to American ears, but in China, both are essential elements of the Chinese Communist Party’s technocratic regime. In 2014, China unveiled a social credit system that Human Rights Read More ›

Like facebook 3d box with white background. 3d rendering

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News
Date
February 17, 2021

Categorized
Data Privacy, Social Media, Surveillance

Tagged
censorship, China, COVID-19, Douglas Murray, Facebook, UnHerd, Verizon}

Who’s Afraid of Facebook? Maybe We Should All Be More Wary

_{A whistleblower showed that rules are enforced very unevenly. Facebook allows extremist language to flourish in some venues and censors mainstream speech in others} _{News
February 17, 2021

7

Data Privacy, Social Media, Surveillance}

Facebook is, according to Fortune Magazine, the “dominant social media app,” with $84.2 billion in revenue in 2019, especially after acquiring Instagram. So dominant that government hearings into questionable activities offer mere slaps on the wrist. There is a reason for that, as we shall soon see. Facebook is, of course, a censor but at best a clumsy one. It removed a page by international disease experts critical of the COVID lockdowns, as if they were mere health cranks. Recently, Facebook announced that it plans to continue to take down posts whose claims its fact checkers “deem false” (February 8, 2021). To get some sense of what that means, Facebook censored an article at UnHerd that was critical of the Read More ›

Classic club sandwich with ham and bacon on a wooden board. Next cup is a mixture of pickled miniature onions, gherkins, tomatoes. Gray background. Close-up.

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Heather Zeiger
Date
February 15, 2021

Categorized
Surveillance, Technocracy

Tagged
China, Elon Musk, Featured, Kai Strittmatter, Li Wenliang, Mark Zuckerberg, Uyghurs, Voice recognition software, We Have Been Harmonized (book)}

For Five Days There Was Free Expression in China

_{Then censors blocked the Clubhouse app} _{Heather Zeiger
February 15, 2021

7

Surveillance, Technocracy}

In March 2020, Silicon Valley entrepreneur Paul Davidson and former Google engineer Rohan Seth launched their newest app, Clubhouse. The app is an invite-only audio chat app that lets users talk in virtual rooms. These conversations can be one-on-one or they could have an audience of up to 5,000 users (the current room limit in the beta version of the app). The app is only available on the iPhone and, once invited, users must use their actual phone number and Apple ID to join. Each user is only allowed to invite up to five people. The app’s exclusive nature gave it the tantalizing aura of the “next-big-thing” among the tech types. On January 31, Space-X’s Elon Musk made an appearance Read More ›

High-Ranking Military Man holds a Briefing to a Team of Government Agents and Politicians, Shows Satellite Surveillance Footage.

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Heather Zeiger
Date
February 6, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Military

Tagged
China, Featured, United States, Wired}

Sci-fi Saturday Books: Will World War III Be the U.S. vs. China?

_{One thing that is certain is that it will be a cyber war} _{Heather Zeiger
February 6, 2021

7

Arts & Culture, Military}

Wired Magazine devoted its entire February 2021 issue to the first four chapters of a book depicting a near-future dystopia in which the U.S. goes to war with China. You can read the first part of the book here. The authors of 2034: A Novel of the New World War have military backgrounds and were inspired by Cold War literature that speculated on the worst-case scenario if the U.S. and Russia had gone to war. The reason for the Wired editors’ interest is that 2034 is no ordinary thriller. Admiral James Stavridis comes with a wealth of experience in how such a conflict might play out. He is a retired four-star U.S. naval officer who has received numerous medals and Read More ›

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

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Heather Zeiger
Date
February 3, 2021

Categorized
Data Privacy, Global Technology, Surveillance

Tagged
Biometric databases, China, Featured, Human rights, Intercept (publication), Uyghurs}

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

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Heather Zeiger
Date
January 26, 2021

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Science, Technocracy

Tagged
China, COVID-19, Featured, Freedom of expression}

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.

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Heather Zeiger
Date
January 20, 2021

Categorized
Technocracy

Tagged
censorship, China, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), COVID-19, Fang Fang, Featured, Great Firewall, Journalists}

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.

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Heather Zeiger
Date
December 30, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance

Tagged
bias, China, Coded Bias (film), Facial Recognition, Featured, Hong Kong, Joy Buolamwini, Social Credit (China)}

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 ›

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Heather Zeiger
Date
December 16, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance

Tagged
Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, China, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Christopher Wray, Cyber espionage, Economic espionage, espionage, Fang Fang, Featured, Ministry of State Security (MSS}

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 ›

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Heather Zeiger
Date
December 6, 2020

Categorized
Religion, Technocracy

Tagged
China, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Christianity, Falun Gong, Featured, Jesus, Massimo Introvigne, Xi Jinping}

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

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News
Date
December 4, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Programming

Tagged
China, Enrique Blair, Featured, Google, Quantum Computing, Quantum Supremacy, Robert J. Marks}

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 ›

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News
Date
November 27, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
AlphaGo, AlphaGoZero, Checkers, chess, China, Deep Mind, Featured, Gaming AI (book), Go, IBM Watson, Jeopardy, Lee Se-dol, Map vs. territory}

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 ›

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Heather Zeiger
Date
November 25, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Data Privacy, Global Technology, Surveillance

Tagged
Africa, Belt and Road, China, Cyber espionage, Featured, Huawei, Zimbabwe}

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

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Heather Zeiger
Date
November 13, 2020

Categorized
Business and Finance, Global Technology

Tagged
Africa, Belt and Road, China, COVID-19, Debt, Kenya}

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

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News
Date
November 12, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Global Technology

Tagged
bitcoin, Blockchain, China, Facial Recognition, Featured, Gaming AI (book), George Gilder, Life after Google (book), Robert J. Marks}

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

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Heather Zeiger
Date
November 5, 2020

Categorized
Ethics, Global Technology, Medicine and Health, Surveillance

Tagged
Africa, China, COVID-19, Featured, Racism}

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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Heather Zeiger
Date
October 12, 2020

Categorized
Global Technology, Programming, Social Media, Surveillance, Technocracy

Tagged
censorship, China, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), COVID-19, Fang Fang, Featured, GitHub, Li Wenliang, Microsoft, Wuhan}

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

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Heather Zeiger
Date
September 28, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Education, Global Technology, Social Media, Surveillance, Technocracy

Tagged
China, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Culture, education, Featured, Language, Xi Jinping}

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 ›