Peter GleickWe already see this.
I'm part of an international team of water scientists giving lectures on freshwater to Chinese university students. The first class has 1,500 students and they expect 10,000 to take the course. 10,000!
Just on #water issues.
Matt HallHoly shit.
I was just starting of thinking about making time to learn French or Spanish.
I should learn Mandarin.
jon saenz@petergleick they know how to improve their future
Roadskater, Ph.D.@petergleick The number of Chinese names I see in author lists in atmospheric science journals has exploded in the past few years.
AnnieBuddyIf nothing else, the quest for knowledge and the respect for education puts China far ahead of those who think they will profit off ignorance.
The tech bros have nothing to compete. Living in their little bubble of self destruction.
Pēteris Krišjānis@AnnieBuddy @petergleick I read this as rejection of "neoliberalism". Moment rich people rolled over political elite it was over. There were no sanity or balance between greed of rich and needs of society.
China gains a lot from more directed economy. People think it is binary choice (it is a lie of course), but in the end, what works for society as whole wins out.
Rich and clouds of smaller bloodsuckers who benefit of them not paying taxes and circling around them will consume it's host.
China gains a lot from more directed economy. People think it is binary choice (it is a lie of course), but in the end, what works for society as whole wins out.
Rich and clouds of smaller bloodsuckers who benefit of them not paying taxes and circling around them will consume it's host.
bk@petergleick
Their government visualizes and plans for the future, while ours seeks to destroy it...
Their government visualizes and plans for the future, while ours seeks to destroy it...
P_______X@knutson_brain @petergleick hey, we can still be #1 at publicly funded genocide, after all (/s)
One interesting thing I think expect to start seeing in anthropology and human origin research are hypotheses to support /justify Chinese supremacy challenging that of Europeans. (of course this is bound to happen to places that have an outsize interest and funding to study fossils and ancient artifacts; but the ideological drama will be scary fascinating).
@P__X @petergleick
Hoo boy, if we don't plan for the future, how can we help design it? (and I agree that each group will try to posthoc rationalize their own progress as the natural order of things, as they have in the past)
Hoo boy, if we don't plan for the future, how can we help design it? (and I agree that each group will try to posthoc rationalize their own progress as the natural order of things, as they have in the past)
Julia ClementAbsolutely no surprises here for me. For the last few decades, both Russia and America (and to a lesser extent Western European countries) have worked tirelessly to enrich a few at the cost of the education of future scientists and technological innovators.
In the last 4 to 5 thousand years, the Chinese have invented so many things it isn't funny. The Four Great Inventions (compass, gunpowder, paper-making and printing including movable type) are celebrated but there are hundreds of significant inventions from Triangular-shaped stone ploughshares (circa 3500 BCE) through to the failure of China with the late 16th century decline of China under the Ming then the 17th century conquest by the Manchu Qing dynasty. To be fair, this period saw widespread implementation of the fishing reel, improvements in textile manufacturing, advancements in agricultural irrigation techniques and advanced mass-production techniques for global export of porcelain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_inventions
The first 8 decades of the 20th century were not kind to China then after 1978, Deng Xiaoping's reforms started the ball rolling. In 1995 under Deng's successor, the State Council issued the "Decision on Accelerating S&T Development" which described planned Science & Technology development for the coming decades, fifteen years before President Xi came to power.
Xi's encouraged the advancement of the programmes that were already in progress before he took over and now we see the Chinese reaching parity with and surpassing Russia & the West.
Godfrey642The thing about China is deep wisdom about R+D. They identify a gap, research it, then actually implement that research to plan for the future benefit of country and people. They play the long game really well, unlike USA who only implement where there's money-to-be-made.
Ulmo@Godfrey642 @petergleick It is clear that one of the reasons for the West’s decline is the extreme greed of its elites (something that has been going on for centuries) and a reckless short-termist outlook that borders on stupidity.
@Ulmo @petergleick
Not just borders on stupidity. It IS stupidity. And arrogant recklessness that endangers not just the country and its people but other nations that trade or ally with it.
As we are seeing in the ME now.
Not just borders on stupidity. It IS stupidity. And arrogant recklessness that endangers not just the country and its people but other nations that trade or ally with it.
As we are seeing in the ME now.
@petergleick I'm starting to wonder if the Chinese have the right idea about most things. Yes authoritarian, but they're not bank rolling or participating in major genocides, regime changing all over the place etc. They're pretty quiet relatively speaking.
Annie@JustinMac84 @petergleick
Pretty sure the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in China might have a thing or two to say about whether or not the Chinese government indulges in genocide… 😢
Pretty sure the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in China might have a thing or two to say about whether or not the Chinese government indulges in genocide… 😢
TJC-@petergleick
Now if they just guarantee freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, and unrigged voting, they'd be on a good path. Without that, not so much.
Now if they just guarantee freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, and unrigged voting, they'd be on a good path. Without that, not so much.