WIRED argues that the global economy is increasingly shaped by China. It highlights Beijing’s industrial push since 2015 to dominate advanced manufacturing. China now leads in batteries, electric vehicles, solar power, and high-speed rail. The article also points to rapid advances in robotics and artificial intelligence. China’s extensive surveillance and AI regulation systems are portrayed as highly developed. Culturally, exports like Ne Zha II signal growing global influence. Overall, the piece frames this era as a potential “Chinese Century.”
Flat_Sail_7985 on
How about instead of the American century or the Chinese century we try and create a century of progress and quality of life increases for people. Trading one authoritarian government for another, yahoo!
Scared-Salamander on
How will it be the Chinese century if their population declines significantly?
YaGetSkeeted0n on
>The US mission, however, has been a boondoggle from the start. NASA’s leaders settled on a plan of baffling complexity: a single trip to the lunar surface could require 40-plus rocket launches, while China’s mission will have two. Then President Trump pushed thousands of NASA employees to quit; the White House proposed a massive budget cut; and Trump installed a former reality TV star as NASA’s part-time acting chief.
guess i better learn pinyin if i ever wanna see the stars
neolthrowaway on
I don’t see robotics hardware manufacturing in the west beating China unless something massively changes.
Maybe in very specialized high-end robots. But mass manufacturing of robotics is likely going to be dominated by China. I think we see a repeat of EVs but this time it was abundantly clear beforehand and we already had the example of EV showing Chinese capability.
In terms of software/ai layer for robotics, the west still has a chance.
Right_Lecture3147 on
Still waiting for my human century 🙁
Loud-Chemistry-5056 on
I think that’s a deliberately provocative title. They’re very important, but for all we know this could be the skynet century – just looks at how much things have changed in the past 26 years.
throwawaygoawaynz on
As someone who lives in Asia, no we’re not?
China is definitely more influential in some areas, whether that’s BYD cars everywhere now or Chinese smartphones, but it still has a long way to go to have any sort of cultural or economic hegemony such as the US last century.
China has some serious structural issues to deal with, and they’re not the centre of capital or currency for now. Without some serious political changes I don’t see that ever really happening either.
US decline also doesn’t necessarily mean China fills the void in all areas. South Korea is becoming a much bigger cultural hegemon in Asia and beyond, as an example.
8 Comments
WIRED argues that the global economy is increasingly shaped by China. It highlights Beijing’s industrial push since 2015 to dominate advanced manufacturing. China now leads in batteries, electric vehicles, solar power, and high-speed rail. The article also points to rapid advances in robotics and artificial intelligence. China’s extensive surveillance and AI regulation systems are portrayed as highly developed. Culturally, exports like Ne Zha II signal growing global influence. Overall, the piece frames this era as a potential “Chinese Century.”
How about instead of the American century or the Chinese century we try and create a century of progress and quality of life increases for people. Trading one authoritarian government for another, yahoo!
How will it be the Chinese century if their population declines significantly?
>The US mission, however, has been a boondoggle from the start. NASA’s leaders settled on a plan of baffling complexity: a single trip to the lunar surface could require 40-plus rocket launches, while China’s mission will have two. Then President Trump pushed thousands of NASA employees to quit; the White House proposed a massive budget cut; and Trump installed a former reality TV star as NASA’s part-time acting chief.
guess i better learn pinyin if i ever wanna see the stars
I don’t see robotics hardware manufacturing in the west beating China unless something massively changes.
Maybe in very specialized high-end robots. But mass manufacturing of robotics is likely going to be dominated by China. I think we see a repeat of EVs but this time it was abundantly clear beforehand and we already had the example of EV showing Chinese capability.
In terms of software/ai layer for robotics, the west still has a chance.
Still waiting for my human century 🙁
I think that’s a deliberately provocative title. They’re very important, but for all we know this could be the skynet century – just looks at how much things have changed in the past 26 years.
As someone who lives in Asia, no we’re not?
China is definitely more influential in some areas, whether that’s BYD cars everywhere now or Chinese smartphones, but it still has a long way to go to have any sort of cultural or economic hegemony such as the US last century.
China has some serious structural issues to deal with, and they’re not the centre of capital or currency for now. Without some serious political changes I don’t see that ever really happening either.
US decline also doesn’t necessarily mean China fills the void in all areas. South Korea is becoming a much bigger cultural hegemon in Asia and beyond, as an example.