I think the west is in for a rude shock when it finally realises how fast China is developing technologically.
I was there a few months ago in Guangzhou, it was stunning to see how many EVs were on the road. You can tell too - because they have a distinctly coloured license plate.
The scale that China can achieve is just mind boggling. We went into a giant mall - 7 levels. And it was all just jewellry. A whole mall! Blew my mind. Apply that sort of scale to technological development. They can do things other countries just can't because of that scale. Here's another example of a data center they just built:
I get the sense that some people are just starting to really cotton on about what China is really becoming - for example that recent review from Marques Brownlee of the Xiaomi EV.
But still - most of the narrative in the west seems to be doomerism about their demographics and real-estate over investment. We will see.
It's going to be interesting to see if China can offset its oncoming demographic challenges with their technological progress.
bigyabai•1h ago
While this is certainly true, I don't really know if molten salt reactors are the best example. The US and Russia shared molten salt reactor technology after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and then the US shared those details with China in 2014 under an international DOE initiative: https://web.archive.org/web/20130919025430/http://www.smartp...
The PRC has much credit to give the United States and Soviets for their thorium reactor designs.
QueensGambit•51m ago
Both the US and China rely on uranium-based fission, but they seem to be diverging on their next bet. China is exploring thorium based fission, while US is leaning toward fusion [1]
oraphalous•1h ago
I was there a few months ago in Guangzhou, it was stunning to see how many EVs were on the road. You can tell too - because they have a distinctly coloured license plate.
The scale that China can achieve is just mind boggling. We went into a giant mall - 7 levels. And it was all just jewellry. A whole mall! Blew my mind. Apply that sort of scale to technological development. They can do things other countries just can't because of that scale. Here's another example of a data center they just built:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUVF8crDZ7g
I get the sense that some people are just starting to really cotton on about what China is really becoming - for example that recent review from Marques Brownlee of the Xiaomi EV.
But still - most of the narrative in the west seems to be doomerism about their demographics and real-estate over investment. We will see.
It's going to be interesting to see if China can offset its oncoming demographic challenges with their technological progress.
bigyabai•1h ago
The PRC has much credit to give the United States and Soviets for their thorium reactor designs.