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China Now the Most Prolific Contributor To Physical Sciences, Engineering, and Math (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Thirty years ago in December, the modern exchange of scholars between the U.S. and China began. Since then, Chinese academics have become the most prolific global contributors to publications in physical sciences, engineering and math. Recent attempts by the U.S. to curtail academic collaboration are unlikely to change this trend. Qingnan Xie of Nanjing University of Science & Technology and Richard Freeman of Harvard University have studied China's contribution to global scientific output. They document a rapid expansion between 2000 and 2016, as the Chinese share of global publications in physical sciences, engineering and math quadrupled. By 2016, the Chinese share exceeded that of the U.S. Furthermore, the authors argue that these metrics -- which are based on the addresses of the authors -- understate China's impact. The data don't count papers written by Chinese researchers located in other countries with addresses outside China and exclude most papers written in Chinese publications. The researchers adjusted for both factors and conclude that Chinese academics now account for more than one-third of global publications in these scientific fields.
Let's hope the Chinese government politics don't fuck it all up for humanity. Those Muslim concentration / re-education camps are well run enough to make Hitler blush in hell.
Or at least this seems to be the prevailing opinion of many in the US and indeed the West in general. Not just among the decision makers, but the average person and MANY of the posters here on slashdot.
Typically, the rant is about "cheap Chinese crap" being sold in 'Murica. Never mind the fact the fact that the Chinese factories are supplying exactly what the western retailers are ordering from them. You design it...they are just making it for you.
Also typical seems to be the idea that the Chinese can only copy. That they are not a people capable of original thought.
I guess that's true.. Unless you count things like paper, gun powder, the compass, silk, alcohol, type printing, the clock, iron smelting, farming, money and stuff like that. But mainly.. not a "thinking people".
I suppose it is true that the west has had a near monopoly in the last 40 years in terms of tech inventions, however I think the willingness of the Chinese people to rapidly adopt new technologies en masse has been and will be continue to be very important.
Then there is the fact that they are dumping massive amounts of cash into research and education, while the US is spending less and less per capita each year.
Of course it is only a matter of time before that many people with that much access to tech over take you.
History does tend to repeat, it would seem.