With a population of over 12 million, Shenzhen is China’s tech hub in addition to being one of the largest cities in China. Living in Shenzhen can sometimes feel like living in the future, with its advanced technology only seen in sci-fi movies. This video explores what makes Shenzhen the tech hub of China and how living in a hi-tech city can be insidious. One field that has been particularly affected by technology is manufacturing. Factory workers that were once needed to build our consumer goods are starting to be replaced by robots. This not only applies to goods that are simple to build, but also complex products such as electronics. Robots are getting better and better at completing complex tasks so it only makes sense to use them instead of workers as it will reduce costs and improve product quality. The video portrays this as a bad thing since a lot of factory workers may lose their jobs and struggle to support their families. However, as long as this is a slow process, I argue that this may be a positive thing in the long term since this will overall increase the productivity of the country and raise living standards. Naturally, job demand in different economic sectors rises and falls over time and is not necessarily cause for concern.
The ground transportation system in China is a testament to its position as a technology superpower. The GaoTie is an existing, elaborate system of high speed train which extends across the whole country. It can reach up to 300 km/h and allows people to quickly travel everywhere. Now, a new train technology using magnetic levitation is being developed, with the potential of attaining a peak speed of over 600 km/h. This is twice as fast as the current high speed train in China. Compared to the US, it offers a great alternative to airplanes for short to medium distance trips, allowing for a higher volume of travel.
Artificial intelligence is a general purpose technology that will revolutionize many aspects of our lives. While the US is currently the leader in AI, China is not far behind and catching up quickly. The world first turned its eye to AI when Deepmind created AlphaGo, a computer algorithm that was able to beat the best human player in Go, a feat previously believed to be impossible. However, the usefulness of artificial intelligence extends far beyond simply playing games well. AI can also transform the fields of drug discovery, next gen weaponry and information technology. The incredible value that AI can bring to humanity leads us to question what happens when the technology is withheld from other parts of the world due to political reasons.
Biotechnology has been quickly evolving over the past century, and China is not being left behind in this field. There are reports of Chinese companies providing genetic testing to detect genetic conditions in fetuses such as Down syndrome. At the same time, this genomic data is also being collected for future usage. This gives Chinese biotech companies a treasure trove of data that western companies cannot collect due to stricter privacy laws. With this kind of data, many new technologies may be unlocked, such as genetic therapies and even possibly creating genetically enhanced soldiers (hello Captain China). While this is still far-fetched under the current developments, it may one day become reality due to a one-sided flow of information between China and the West.
This video explores the topic of surveillance in China and how it can be used by the government to track the whereabouts of its citizens. There are two main factors that allow the government to effectively and scalably track the movements of such a huge population. First of all, the highly developed infrastructure of video cameras ensure that no matter where you are, you are likely to be filmed. However, all of this footage would be meaningless if there is no way of efficiently processing them. After all, there is no way of manually reviewing this huge amount of data. That is why the high technology companies of China come in. With their advanced AI technologies, it has become increasingly easy and accurate to identify a person from a sea of data.
The video “How China’s high-tech ‘eyes’ monitor behavior and dissent” criticizes China’s high tech as facilitating a surveillance state. The viewers are introduced to a platform called “Good Doctor” for patients who live far from hospitals, which is an advantage to technological advancements; however, the viewers also get a glimpse at a tool that allows analyzing micro-expressions. Usually, we want high-quality cameras for operations when the finest eyes will best perform delicate surgery. The speaker mentions that the technology can identify 90 expressions and “it is already better than the human eye” at analyzing facial movements. It is scary to think that a machine can read a person’s face when it is in our nature to interact with others using verbal and physical expressions. China has 200 million cameras whereas South Korea has 1.46 million cameras (apart from the fact that South Korea is 96 times smaller than China). Anyways, in South Korea, surveillance cameras are mainly used for the safety of people. Using surveillance cameras, police officials catch criminals instead of analyzing a citizen’s credit score. This reminds me of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal incident in which the personal data of millions of Facebook users were collected for political advertising. This is just data users inputted within Facebook, but imagine having our everyday information (consumer behavior, mannerism, movements) all used for another purpose, not goodwill. One Chinese woman is interviewed, and she shares how people’s credit scores decrease when one of the cameras catches them j-walking. I am relieved that risky behaviors decrease due to the advancement of surveillance cameras and platforms; however, I would not like to live in a Big Brother-like society. Behavior change is exactly what the Chinese government wants, but any government will have a different agenda to what it presents to the public both nationally and globally. If they can monitor and change people’s street walking habits, what other behavior will they try to change in the future? Based on the interviews presented in the video, we do not have anyone opposing the cameras and credit scores; in fact, an interviewee explains how they can get bus fare discounts depending on the score. It seems as if she accepts this as a form of reward.
We get a look into the 20th CPC National Congress, particularly takeaways from Xi Jinping’s report. He focuses on what is expected in the next five years. The basic message that China is trying to convey is peace and prosperity globally and engagement with other countries. The key word in policies is “modernization”. The speaker explains that before China’s economy was driven by exports, and now the country is fostering a new development paradigm through high-tech advancement. There is tremendous growth in high-tech areas. The Chinese government placed regulations within the high-tech industries because it agrees that there are both benefits and risks. The interviewer gives an interesting question: "in driving the econ growth, where are we known in knowns of innovation compared with the United States? China made tremendous progress in innovation. The interviewee praises his country’s intensity, talented people, and an extensive number of academic papers. Original research, high impact research still the United States is above China. China must work hard to catch up to the United States and European countries in some industries, specifically, semi-conductor. We have another interview with the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to China, Palitha Kohona. Kohona shares his opinion regarding the development happening in China. The Ambassador states that he believes China achieved prosperity because of the steadfast leadership provided by the Communist Party of China. So, the viewers can see already that the speakers in this video are speaking positively about the government’s implementation of high-tech advancement. I thought this video was interesting because it does not specifically focus on the high tech. Instead, it focuses on the government’s ability towards China. The Ambassador mentions “how high-tech advancement allowed the country to achieve fantastic communication systems, the railway lines, the highways, the fabulous cities, the conservation of nature.” He focuses on the leadership provided by the Communist Party of China. I am not surprised that this video focuses on the positive aspects of high-tech advancement and how it constantly mentions the effectiveness of the government. This is because the video is from CGTN, funded by the Chinese government.
This video is titled “China’s high-tech push to fight the coronavirus”, and the speaker, Eunice Yoon, explains how Beijing leaned on all sorts of new technologies to help the city fight against the coronavirus. This video shows Pepper, a robot that helps direct patients to doctors. I thought this robot to be harmless and helpful because it improved the effectiveness of patients meeting their doctors. We had an interview with Cloudminds Technologies founder, Bill Huang. The reason that he thought these robots would be effective is that robots cannot get infected; therefore, they are excellent candidates for the front lines. I am aware that this video is from 2019, but I thought that it would be interesting to show how the government used its high-tech advancements for the better of the population. We see how the city uses drones to disinfect the city as well as to deliver samples. We also see face recognition technology and infrared cameras helping authorities control the spread of coronavirus. Locals believed that big data helped the collaboration and work of the population. The founders of some high-tech companies believed that the silver lining to the coronavirus pandemic is that their technologies have become much stronger, which I completely agree with. This video clearly shows that technologies were used to help the citizens from the spread of coronavirus because they had one function. However, I believe that the advancement of high-tech opened the doors to other agendas that are not related to helping the citizen control coronavirus. For instance, facial recognition was used to help locate potential infections. However, now, the government is using it to give credit scores to citizens. Although I believe that high-tech can help people, it depends on the purpose of the technology. If it is in good hands, the technology can be used in a beneficial way, as we can see in the video when the government first started using it to help control the spread of coronavirus.
This video focuses on China’s high-tech dystopia, specifically on internet censorship. The video's opening allows the viewers to know where it will take them. The speaker explains that the level of internet censorship in China is absurd. This gives a negative tone to China’s usage of high tech in censoring what is going on on the Internet. I was already familiar with the limitations that the Chinese government placed on the Internet, but I was curious how they use its high technology to make it happen. The video believes that China created an advanced oppressive system of internet censorship and surveillance. The speakers point out the credit system and how some people are put in jail for some comments said in WeChat. Internet access in China is advanced. However, governmental control is strict. Someone, for example, myself, is not worried that the government is looking over personal text messages. However, the video says that it is not the case for Chinese citizens. This video got me thinking about the political aspect of high tech in China. On the one hand, high-tech advancement allowed improvement in many aspects such as social, economic, health, and more. People are using high tech to communicate more efficiently. On the other hand, the government technology to control what people are saying on such advanced platforms is limiting what they can say. The video describes censorship and propaganda. China only wants to promote good news. It is like a high-tech dystopia in the sense that the government is controlling what is going on in China because of the high level of manipulation it has on social media. The government even controls what is trending, so in the case that people want to talk about an urgent matter, they are unable to because the trending works in the best interests of the government. It is sort of scary that they even control what people are saying through chat. If I were in the position in which the government is watching over my shoulder when I am texting my friend, I would not send any sort of message that talks negatively about the government. It is the sheer terror of technology that stops me from speaking truthfully. If people were to be dissatisfied, they cannot even communicate and plan a protest because the government pulls them out now, they share their critical opinion on social media platforms or create a group chat with other people who share a similar opinion. This is truly an example of China’s high-tech dystopia.
This is one of the shortest video clips that I have found so far regarding China’s high-tech dystopia. It is a video of a Chinese robodog with a megaphone. It is strolling through the streets with a megaphone stating some recommendations (rules) that citizens should obey. Let me state them: Less group gathering! Circulate the air! Scientific Prevention: Act Civil! Wear a Mask! Please Wash your Hands! Check the temperature! Sanitize frequently! Less group gathering! Circulate the air! And again, repeat. So, we can see that the government is using this machine to convey its messages to limit the spread of coronavirus. It is reminding people to gather less and other instructions for the good of the people. The purpose of using this machine is clearly to keep people from infecting one another, which I believe is good; however, what if the government uses this machine for another reason? A reason that favors them or a reason that tries to manipulate people. When I saw the video of this machine, it reminded me of the killing machines from Black Mirror’s episode, Metalhead. We do not get the backstory of how these killing machines ended up killing the few characters left in the community, but I would like to infer that the machines were created by humans in the first place. What if these smart machines become even smarter with AI? I would be scared to live with my friends and family in a place controlled by these unnatural insect-like moving machines. They are crawling on four legs and exclaiming loudly what the government wants to remind the people. This is a mild use of technology, but I do believe that it could be potentially dangerous if it further develops for other uses that are not considering the benefit of the people. In the future, these machines could include biometrics and facial recognition. Now, Chinese citizens’ social credit score decreases when they are caught j-walking. They are caught by surveillance cameras but imagine if these moving creepy machines had facial recognition as well. Of course, many authorities will say that this will not happen and that they respect the privacy of their citizens. However, aren’t China and other parts of the world moving towards this?