Why China Is Baffled by America’s AI Race | Yi-Ling Liu

Silicon Valley frames AI as a race against China to reach AGI. In China, almost nobody thinks that way.

Journalist Yi-Ling Liu, author of The Wall Dancers and journalist in residence at the Tarbell Center for AI Journalism, joined me on Forecast 2050 to explain how China actually sees AI, the “permanent underclass” that predates automation, demographic collapse and the Chinese silver economy, and the Christian origins of the transhumanist movement.

Extended Show Notes: finnmurphyirl.substack.com/p/why-is-silicon-va…

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
02:58 Superintelligence Is Not China’s Goal
08:06 The Pre-AI Permanent Underclass
11:00 The Tech-Government Revolving Door
17:05 Lying Flat
19:57 Christian Singularity vs. Daoist AI
26:06 Overcoming Censorship
32:10 The TikTok Ban
36:58 Chinese Perceptions of the West
46:16 The Silver Economy

Yi-Ling Liu is a journalist in residence at the Tarbell Center for AI Journalism, former China editor at Rest of World, and author of The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet.

Yi-Ling on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yi-ling-l-89799783
Yi-Ling on X: x.com/yilingliu95
Website: yi-lingliu.com

Forecast 2050 is a series about the next 25 years—and the builders, thinkers, and leaders shaping what comes next.

Finn on X: x.com/FinnMurphy12
Finn on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/finn-murphy-16160465

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