The thing that strikes me most about this excellent piece is the staggering similarity of some of these narratives to....the US some decades ago. It would be presumptuous to cast these lines of thinking as a mere echo of American progress narratives but it is hard not to read them as a direct challenge!
One particularly interesting way this plays out is the direct assault by particularly strident China boosters on Silicon Valley as the best way of technological progress. That's coupled with the insistence that the party has somehow fundamentally cracked the best way to do technological progress.
I am curious which era of the U.S. this narrative reminded you of? For me, it was the 19th century (Manifest Destiny and the frontier theory) and the second half of the 20th century.
Interesting article, but I wonder how much this "national vibe shift" extends beyond tech circles; as someone living in China, I have perhaps seen only very limited evidence of increased optimism on the ground (I know - China is big, I see only a sliver). It'll be interesting to see how the Trump administration plays into any vibe shift, so far it seems like it could go either way, with some people celebrating cuts to USAID , but also reacting angrily to increased tariffs and so-called "interference" with Taiwan.
This article (https://www.sinification.com/p/xu-jilin-on-sexuality-boredom-and) featuring an interview with Xu Jilin makes an interesting contrast to the phenomenon described here. He suggests that modern youth are uninterested in grand theories and more concerned with practical aspects of daily life. On the whole, I would probably lean more towards that kind of theory; not that I think China is facing decline, but slowing growth has probably reduced young people's expectations, and I agree with Xu that these trends aren't unique to China.
My friend Oskar suggested that Russia has a similar time-traveling genre called “Popadanstvo” typically featuring contemporary Russians who travel back to the recent or distant past. This whole "industrial party“ genre is intriguing.
Incredible piece, very thought provoking! I like thinking about DeepSeek and its implications on China's culture of innovation and national identity.
China's go-to-market strategy is now fairly global and sophisticated. DeepSeek's use of AI talent was unusually effective even with considerable constraints. Certainly an orchestrated ah-ha moment.
I think there is "no moat" against AI talent and China's long-term initiatives. It's not that the west has envy, it's that U.S. monopoly capitalism stunts real innovation and makes it more expensive. Trade sanctions and cold wars, favors China's model of innovation.
U.S. chip restrictions and entity list sanctions and trade barriers only makes China's ecosystem more innovative. China's mobile ecosystem has always been more natively superior at the application layer. (miniapps, Super apps, more real utility for consumers, etc..., bigger ecosystem).
National identity aside, all things being equal China's AI talent is now equal or superior to that of most other nations. Which is what makes watching their AI startups (more numerous) so much more interesting than the financial bottlenecks of the West to be a legit research lab.
The techno-optimism and desire to build in the face of adversaries is an interesting, almost hopeful, contrast to what feels like western naratives. The next great cyperpunk novel to look at today's world would probably need to involve China as a surveilence state, akin to 1984. In contrast a Chinese novel could easily take on a "solarpunk" or "victorian steampunk" vibe of optimism, building great things, and pursuit of creation in the face of opposing powers.
The thing that strikes me most about this excellent piece is the staggering similarity of some of these narratives to....the US some decades ago. It would be presumptuous to cast these lines of thinking as a mere echo of American progress narratives but it is hard not to read them as a direct challenge!
One particularly interesting way this plays out is the direct assault by particularly strident China boosters on Silicon Valley as the best way of technological progress. That's coupled with the insistence that the party has somehow fundamentally cracked the best way to do technological progress.
I am curious which era of the U.S. this narrative reminded you of? For me, it was the 19th century (Manifest Destiny and the frontier theory) and the second half of the 20th century.
Yes, shades of all of it. I would say most similar to the early frontier stuff and Apollo-era futurism. Jetsons, Roy Rogers, etc
Interesting article, but I wonder how much this "national vibe shift" extends beyond tech circles; as someone living in China, I have perhaps seen only very limited evidence of increased optimism on the ground (I know - China is big, I see only a sliver). It'll be interesting to see how the Trump administration plays into any vibe shift, so far it seems like it could go either way, with some people celebrating cuts to USAID , but also reacting angrily to increased tariffs and so-called "interference" with Taiwan.
This article (https://www.sinification.com/p/xu-jilin-on-sexuality-boredom-and) featuring an interview with Xu Jilin makes an interesting contrast to the phenomenon described here. He suggests that modern youth are uninterested in grand theories and more concerned with practical aspects of daily life. On the whole, I would probably lean more towards that kind of theory; not that I think China is facing decline, but slowing growth has probably reduced young people's expectations, and I agree with Xu that these trends aren't unique to China.
I'm interested in learning more about "illumine linga" and "industrial party". They sound intriguing.
My friend Oskar suggested that Russia has a similar time-traveling genre called “Popadanstvo” typically featuring contemporary Russians who travel back to the recent or distant past. This whole "industrial party“ genre is intriguing.
Incredible piece, very thought provoking! I like thinking about DeepSeek and its implications on China's culture of innovation and national identity.
China's go-to-market strategy is now fairly global and sophisticated. DeepSeek's use of AI talent was unusually effective even with considerable constraints. Certainly an orchestrated ah-ha moment.
China's open-source strategy in AI mimics the Google employee leak of May, 2023. https://semianalysis.com/2023/05/04/google-we-have-no-moat-and-neither/
I think there is "no moat" against AI talent and China's long-term initiatives. It's not that the west has envy, it's that U.S. monopoly capitalism stunts real innovation and makes it more expensive. Trade sanctions and cold wars, favors China's model of innovation.
U.S. chip restrictions and entity list sanctions and trade barriers only makes China's ecosystem more innovative. China's mobile ecosystem has always been more natively superior at the application layer. (miniapps, Super apps, more real utility for consumers, etc..., bigger ecosystem).
National identity aside, all things being equal China's AI talent is now equal or superior to that of most other nations. Which is what makes watching their AI startups (more numerous) so much more interesting than the financial bottlenecks of the West to be a legit research lab.
I wish the podcast had an English language version because this is very good!
Thank you Shane!
The techno-optimism and desire to build in the face of adversaries is an interesting, almost hopeful, contrast to what feels like western naratives. The next great cyperpunk novel to look at today's world would probably need to involve China as a surveilence state, akin to 1984. In contrast a Chinese novel could easily take on a "solarpunk" or "victorian steampunk" vibe of optimism, building great things, and pursuit of creation in the face of opposing powers.