[boxed]

China is a the forefront of catching up. Don't mistake that for innovation. China isn't building the best chips, that's Taiwan with really Netherlands doing the hard part. China is catching up to European car makers except they've largely caught up to Tesla in the powertrain (I partly blame that on Americans boycotting Tesla for silly political reasons). In the AI space obviously China is just running after playing catch up. Biology, catch up. Chemistry, catch up. Physics, catch up.

Where is China leading?

[manfromchina1]

Despite my handle I am not Chinese lest I am accused of harboring any bias. Anyway, I decided to look up what is going on. Apparently, things are nuanced. On the one hand China lags behind when it comes to semiconductors, large commercial aircraft, some pharmaceutical innovation. On the other hand,

> When evaluating the top 10 percent of high-quality scientific publications, ASPI finds that China surpasses the United States across all 8 critical technology domains. The gap is particularly pronounced in the energy and environment domain, where China accounts for 46 percent of top-tier publications compared to just 10 percent for the United States. Despite U.S. leadership in AI, China produces more top publications, contributing 30 percent versus 18 percent for the United States[0]

Basically, China dominates in batteries, solar, quantum communications, robotics deployment, high-speed rail, nuclear construction, autonomous vehicle deployment, manufacturing process innovation, patent volume in most categories

[0] https://itif.org/publications/2025/09/23/how-china-is-outper...

[tristanj]

China is the world leader in Drones, Electric vehicles, Batteries, Solar Panels, Electronics, Robotics, High-Speed Rail, Industrial equipment, Nuclear energy, Telecommunications Equipment, Cameras, Shipbuilding, Scientific research, rapid mobile payments.

Tied for AI, Smartphones

Semiconductors, rockets, and aerospace are probably the only sectors china is behind in.

China is the most technologically advanced society on earth. They are far far ahead of anyone else in using technology to make society easier. Many government services can be handled easily on your phone.

[leonidasrup]

> They are far far ahead of anyone else in using technology to make society easier. Many government services can be handled easily on your phone.

This is just a side effect of using technology to control the population.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_credit_system

[berkanunal]

That's a propaganda you fell for. From the wiki page you linked

> There have been widespread misconceptions in media reports about a unified social credit "score" based on individuals' behavior, leading to punishments if the score is too low or rewards if the score is high.

[fakedang]

And America doesn't? Palantir, Ring and Flock Safety say hi.

[direwolf20]

In the US, the government still uses technology to control you, but you don't get convenient tax filing either.

[ben_w]

Even if that is so, and surveilance capitalism is why the GPDR consent requests on half the websites I visit claim to have more "trusted partners" than there were pupils and staff combined in my seconday school, China are still ahead on those things.

[dgacmu]

I think it's less about blaming us for boycotting Tesla and more about blaming us for letting our entrenched interests in both oil extraction and ICE cars prevent us from investing in EV development and switching to them faster.

[b65e8bee43c2ed0]

>I partly blame that on Americans boycotting Tesla for silly political reasons)

China taking over the EV market was always going to happen. for instance, BYD sold (tens of thousands of) their first EV a decade before Musk went from le wholesome space man to le evil nazi man.

besides, I don't think being boycotted by the terminally online folx has had much impact. luxury brands just don't do well during a recession, and the market for Tesla - US and Europe - is not doing so good, to put it mildly.

[justinclift]

Is this wrong?

https://insideevs.com/features/719015/china-is-ahead-of-west...

[pferde]

Its owner being a nazi white supremacist is "silly political reason" now? Oh my...

[adjejmxbdjdn]

> I partly blame that on Americans boycotting Tesla for silly political reasons

What would be different in Tesla’s output if Americans didn’t start boycotting Tesla less than 2 years ago?

And I’m glad you think killing at least half a million kids in Africa to not even save any money, stealing all our social security data, etc are just “silly political reasons”.

[boxed]

> What would be different in Tesla’s output if Americans didn’t start boycotting Tesla less than 2 years ago?

Car companies do better if they sell cars. They also find it easier to sell cars if owning said car doesn't make you fearful some crazy person will smash it because of identity politics.

> And I’m glad you think killing at least half a million kids in Africa to not even save any money, stealing all our social security data, etc are just “silly political reasons”.

Oh, I'm not. But hurting Tesla and putting a break on saving the planet will do what exactly? Absolutely jack shit.

It's like that story about the guy who made nice Game Boy clones, and people figured out he was an arms dealer originally and started a campaign to boycott the Game Boy clone. What will this accomplish? Destroying someones moral and good business will force them to go back to their evil business. It's counterproductive as hell.

[watwut]

Tesla is not saving the planet and not necessary to save the planet.

The whole idea that this one company must be protected from any competition and fed money and support is absurd. Add to it the years of lies Musk engaged in and his nazi affiliations ... it is tripple absurd.

[boxed]

> Tesla is not saving the planet and not necessary to save the planet.

They were certainly a big part of it. They kickstarted the electrification of cars, which is no small feat. Now they're not really so important anymore because the other car brands got (justifiably) scared and followed.

> The whole idea that this one company must be protected from any competition and fed money and support is absurd. Add to it the years of lies Musk engaged in and his nazi affiliations ... it is tripple absurd.

I mean.. that's you making stuff up. I didn't say any of that. I will say that destroying random peoples cars because they bought a certain brand before even knowing what terrible things Musk was going to do is idiotic. It makes the people opposing Musk look like shrill karens that can't think for shit. Does this help or hurt the cause of stopping Musk from doing stupid shit? I think it hurts it.

[amanaplanacanal]

Allowing chinese vehicles into the US would do more for saving the planet, if that's your goal.

[Jtarii]

No one forced Elon to kill a million Africans. He could have just like, not done that.