Think China only assembles gadgets? Think again! This video dives into how China is rocketing ahead in AI, microchips, quantum computing, neuroscience, and genetics. Get ready for jaw-dropping facts and wild breakthroughs that might just change the world. Enjoy the ride? Smash that subscribe button and comment on which tech blew your mind the most! #technology #china #innovation #science #future
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@kramola_online
0:00 - China's Transformation in Science & Technology
0:25 - China's R&D Investment and Priorities
2:16 - Artificial Intelligence Leadership
4:26 - Semiconductors and Microchip Strategy
7:22 - Quantum Computing Achievements
9:25 - Neuroscience and Brain Research
12:13 - Genetics Breakthroughs and Controversies
15:03 - Conclusion and Final Reflections
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@kramola_online
0:00 - China's Transformation in Science & Technology
0:25 - China's R&D Investment and Priorities
2:16 - Artificial Intelligence Leadership
4:26 - Semiconductors and Microchip Strategy
7:22 - Quantum Computing Achievements
9:25 - Neuroscience and Brain Research
12:13 - Genetics Breakthroughs and Controversies
15:03 - Conclusion and Final Reflections
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TechTranscript
00:00Not so long ago, China was considered an underdeveloped factory of the world,
00:04a country that didn't invent anything and only assembled goods based on other people's designs.
00:09After all, international corporations moved their production there to take advantage of cheap labor.
00:15But now you will see some amazing footage that will leave you with no doubt that today
00:19this country is one of the world leaders in science and technology. Let's go!
00:25In 2020, while the whole world was struggling with you-know-what,
00:29the government of the PRC spent $378 billion on research and development,
00:35M-R-N-D, applied scientific research and testing, aimed at developing new products and services.
00:41And over the next five years, this amount will increase by 7% every year.
00:47For comparison, Russia, on the contrary, is reducing this amount.
00:51Here it's called spending on R-N-D, research and development work.
00:55So, take a look at the numbers.
00:57In 2020, about $7 billion were spent on it.
01:01And in 2021, they plan to spend around $6 billion.
01:06Interesting comparison, isn't it?
01:08Almost 400 versus 7.
01:10Today, every fifth published scientific article is written by Chinese scientists.
01:15And in the next five years, the government of China plans to spend 10 times more money on pure science.
01:21And this is not just useless fundamental science for highbrow philosophers.
01:26Chinese science is becoming more and more intertwined with business.
01:31In 2019, the government announced that scientists now have the right to take a leave of up to six years
01:36to create their own startups.
01:39At the same time, they continue to receive their salary and benefits, and their achievements during this period count toward
01:47their academic record as scientific work.
01:49The government of China creates the most favorable conditions for scientists and entrepreneurs if they work in certain fields that
01:56the country's leadership considers a priority.
01:59Thus, in the 14th five-year plan, China pays the most attention to artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum computers, neuroscience, and
02:07genetics.
02:09Let's figure out why these areas are of primary importance and what their current state is.
02:16Artificial intelligence.
02:18In this field, there are currently two main competitors, China and the United States.
02:23The main advantage of the PRC in this race is its population of 1.4 billion people, of which 1
02:30billion actively use the Internet.
02:33People generate data, and that's the fuel that makes the AI rocket take off.
02:39Professor Kai-Fu Lee, one of the leading experts in the field of AI, says China has the most users,
02:44and they generate an incredible amount of data because everyday life in China is saturated with digital services.
02:50For example, in China, there are almost no credit cards or cash.
02:55Everyone uses mobile payments, which means they generate data that AI uses to work better.
03:00Professor Lee was a top manager at Microsoft, Apple, and Google, so everyone who wants to stay informed listens to
03:07what he says.
03:07According to his predictions, in the next 5 to 10 years, AI will become a part of every business.
03:13Companies will use it as widely as they use the Internet and data analytics today.
03:17He gives the following comparison.
03:19When electricity became commonplace, cinema replaced theater and opera, and with the development of the Internet, everyone moved to YouTube
03:26and TikTok.
03:26China is already ahead in an AI area, like facial recognition.
03:32This technology heavily depends on the amount of collected data, and China collects the most data.
03:53The processing of visual data is not only allowed, but even encouraged there.
03:57Facial recognition technology and types of entities were displayed.
04:01And its application is not limited to just surveillance of citizens.
04:05It is used, for example, in medicine, autonomous vehicles, and factories.
04:09Recently, Chinese universities have created hundreds of new positions for AI professors,
04:14and opened hundreds of thousands of institutions for teaching the basics of AI.
04:19As a result, in 2020, China had already surpassed the US in the citation rate of scientific papers on AI.
04:37In 2020, due to the pandemic, the world plunged into a global chip shortage.
04:42Work became remote, demand for computer equipment increased, and the world suddenly needed more processors.
04:47But supply chains were disrupted by the lockdown, since production is a global process.
04:53Most circuits are designed in the US, assembled in Asia, and the resources for them are extracted all over the
04:58world.
04:58China was the first to start emerging from the semiconductor crisis, because it was better prepared for it than others.
05:06While other countries were spending money fighting the coronavirus, China was actively buying up microprocessors.
05:12Every fifth dollar China spent on imported goods went to semiconductors.
05:15A total of $380 billion was spent on them.
05:20As a result, many countries began to experience a chip shortage, while Chinese corporations like Huawei had plenty of them
05:26in their warehouses.
05:28The thing is, back in 2018, Donald Trump threatened to ban the sale of microchips to some Chinese companies,
05:35and China fully realized its vulnerability.
05:38After all, China uses 60% of all microprocessors in the world for goods for its domestic market and for
05:45export, but it only produces a third of the semiconductors it needs.
05:49If it is deprived of external supplies, all production will come to a halt.
05:54That's why increasing microprocessor production is a top priority for China.
05:57For example, in 2020, investments in Chinese semiconductor companies increased fourfold compared to the previous year.
06:05Processor manufacturing plants are some of the most complex manufacturing facilities.
06:10Building them takes a lot of time and money.
06:13To get a plant up and running, it needs to be equipped with complex and expensive equipment,
06:17and it also requires rare materials and highly skilled specialists.
06:21Until recently, the production of microchips was handled by a small handful of companies that monopolized the market.
06:27But amid the sharp shortage of chips, the market quickly opened up quickly.
06:32Everyone needed factories, so in 2021 not only specialized corporations like Intel and Qualcomm started building them,
06:39but also tech giants like Apple, Google, and Amazon.
06:43In China, well-known smartphone and computer manufacturers like Xiaomi, Huawei, and Oppo have started making their own processors.
06:50The main Chinese search engine, Baidu, has started producing chips for smart cars.
06:56Alibaba, founded by Jack Ma, now produces chips for AI and cloud computing.
07:01And ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, makes chips for its own servers.
07:04In short, the Chinese are taking microprocessors, their Achilles' heel, extremely seriously,
07:09and are now devoting all their efforts to producing them.
07:13So it's quite likely that soon China will become a leader in microchip production,
07:17and then the U.S. will no longer be able to threaten them with sanctions in this area.
07:22Quantum computing!
07:24At the end of 2019, Google announced that they had achieved quantum supremacy.
07:29Their quantum processor Sycamore completed calculations in minutes
07:33that would have taken a regular supercomputer 10,000 years.
07:36And at the end of the pandemic, year 2020, Chinese scientists announced that their photonic quantum computer Juzan had broken
07:45Google's record.
07:46In just a few minutes, it completed calculations that would have taken the third most powerful supercomputer in the world
07:522 billion years.
07:54It sounds impressive.
07:55But for now, these quantum machines aren't capable of much.
07:59For quantum computers to work properly and deliver reliable calculation results,
08:03they need to be completely isolated from the environment, including temperature fluctuations and electromagnetic interference.
08:09And that's physically impossible for now.
08:12That's why their calculations remain noisy, and the environment affects the accuracy of the results.
08:18And to get an accurate answer, scientists correct the results of quantum computations with other calculations,
08:24which are also very complex.
08:26Today, there are about two dozen models of quantum computers,
08:30and so far, no one knows which of them will turn out to be the most effective.
08:35For example, Google demonstrated quantum supremacy using superconductors,
08:40while Chinese scientists did it with photons.
08:42And both models work for a very narrow range of tasks.
08:46Nevertheless, in the coming years, the main race will be in finding practical uses for imperfect, noisy quantum technologies.
08:54One of the leading modern scientists in the field of quantum physics is Chinese scientist Pan Jianwei,
09:00whom the journal Nature calls the father of quantum.
09:03He was the one who oversaw the creation of the Juzhen computer, which demonstrated quantum supremacy.
09:09Back in 2017, he made a breakthrough in quantum communication and cryptography.
09:15At that time, the Chinese satellite Michius used photons in a quantum state
09:19to enable a video conference between China and Vienna that was impossible to hack.
09:26Neuroscience.
09:27It is believed that in the next decade, we will see a boom in new computer architectures,
09:32and neuromorphic computers are seen as one of the most promising areas.
09:37Developers are inspired by the structure of the human brain
09:40and use deep learning systems to create them.
09:44Neuomorphic systems will be better at analyzing neuro-structured information,
09:48which could bring humanity closer to creating strong AI, or AGI.
09:54It is an AI capable of thinking and being self-aware.
09:58This is the kind of AI that science fiction writers love to imagine.
10:01In this field, Chinese scientists from Tsinghua University stand out in particular.
10:07They were the first to present a model of neuromorphic completeness,
10:11that is, a working model of a neuromorphic computer, in several articles for the journal Nature.
10:16They also created the Tianji chip, which operates on the principle of biological neural networks
10:21and can already be integrated into autonomous bicycles.
10:25But Chinese developments in the field of human brain research are even more interesting.
10:29The West has heard about neural implants and brain computer technology
10:33from Elon Musk's company Neuralink.
10:35But while Musk is experimenting on pigs and monkeys,
10:39in China, tests on the interaction of neuroimplants with real human brains
10:43have been conducted for several years already.
10:46In the early 2000s, Chinese scientists conducted experiments on drug-addicted rats and rhesus macaques.
10:52Brain surgeries on these animals led to a noticeable reduction in addiction.
10:57In 2004, Chinese neurosurgeons performed at least 1,000 brain surgeries
11:02on people suffering from opioid addiction.
11:04Overall, the experiment was considered successful as it led to a reduction in relapses among the drug-dependent
11:11patients who underwent surgery and only some of them experienced noticeable side effects.
11:15And in the 2010s, Chinese scientists moved from simple surgeries to neuromodulation techniques,
11:22enhancing or suppressing brain activity using devices implanted in the brain.
11:27In 2019, the world learned the story of Yan, a 33-year-old man addicted to methamphetamine.
11:34His father brought him to the neuroclinic, giving him an ultimatum.
11:38Either go to rehab again or see the neurosurgeons.
11:41Yan chose the neurosurgeons and deep brain stimulation.
11:44They drilled his skull in two places, implanted electrodes into his brain,
11:49and placed a battery-powered unit for the brain electrodes into his chest.
11:53Now the doctor can control the activity of the electrodes implanted in Yan's brain
11:57using an app on a tablet.
11:59This machine is pure magic, says Yan.
12:02The doctor tells it to make you happy, and you feel happy,
12:05or to make you nervous, and you get nervous.
12:08It controls your happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy.
12:12Genetics
12:13The achievements of Chinese geneticists are recognized by scientists all over the world.
12:19For example, China ranks second after the United States
12:22in the number of scientific articles in the field of biomedical engineering.
12:25However, geneticists from China have been involved in a series of scandals,
12:30mostly caused by violations of generally accepted moral and ethical standards.
12:34For example, in 2001, a Chinese scientist grew rabbit embryos in a laboratory
12:39using skin cell nuclei taken from a seven-year-old boy.
12:43Embryonic stem cells could be taken from the resulting hybrids.
12:47Thanks to Chinese experiments with the CRISPR-Case9 genome editing technique on monkeys,
12:52humanity learned that the DNA of embryos circulates in the mother's blood.
12:57In 2018, Chinese biophysicist, I Jiankui announced that using CRISPR-Case9,
13:02he had successfully modified the DNA of human embryos
13:05and made them less vulnerable to HIV.
13:09A Chinese court strongly condemned Jiankui for his pursuit of fame and profit.
13:13He was sentenced to three years in prison and fined 3 million yuan, which is $430,000.
13:19In 2019, geneticists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences
13:23modified the genes of crab-eating macaques to induce autistic behavior in them.
13:32At the same time, they are already successfully cloning primates
13:36and supplying scientists around the world with 95 transgenic monkeys for various experiments.
13:41The Chinese company BGI Group is one of the world leaders
13:45in sequencing the genomes of humans, animals, and plants.
13:49Its history is very revealing.
13:51BGI was founded by scientist Wang Jian in 1999 as a non-governmental research institute
13:57to participate in the International Human Genome Project.
14:02BGI and Jian closely collaborated with state universities, sharing expertise and personnel.
14:08Over time, BGI turned into a commercial company, although cooperation with the government did not stop.
14:14Such an intertwining of private and state sectors is absolutely normal for China.
14:18BGI is responsible for forming China's National Genetic Database,
14:23which is indirectly connected to projects like these, for example.
14:27Chinese police intend to collect blood from 700 million Chinese boys and men to create a genetic database.
14:35The material is collected primarily from men, simply because they commit crimes more often than women.
14:42Such an ambitious goal was set after a successful experiment in Henan province,
14:46where police collected blood samples from as many as 5.3 million men in two years.
14:52Now China possesses a database of 80 million genetic profiles, the largest in the world,
14:58and it has every chance to become a global leader in the field of genetics.
15:02The strength of China's scientific and industrial complex lies in cooperation between the government and corporations.
15:09The government acts as a big brother.
15:12It provides grants to companies and scientists, exempts them from taxes,
15:15and creates special conditions through legislation.
15:18Provided, of course, that the goals of scientists and businessmen align with the goals of the party.
15:24What do you say after all this?
15:26You have to admit, it feels like we live on completely different planets.
15:30But just how friendly is this Chinese planet with all these intimidating technologies to people in the end?
15:37Let's discuss it in the comments.
15:39Thank you for watching and see you in future episodes on our channel.
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