I don't hear too often that anything exciting is being developed in China so I think it's great for them. I expect more of this in the future.
I just don't think having the most secure quantum cryptographic communication system is the type of technology they would gladly want to share with the rest of world. Sooner or later, the secret service (do they have one?) or military will be involved. Will we see another Cold War-ish information technology race?
>> I just don't think having the most secure quantum cryptographic communication system is the type of technology they would gladly want to share with the rest of world. Sooner or later, the secret service (do they have one?) or military will be involved. Will we see another Cold War-ish information technology race?
You make it sound as if this selfishness and militaristic lean is specifically Chinese in nature and that other freedom-lovin', rainbow-kissin' nations engage in free and open exchange of knowledge with no military aspirations whatsoever. "Oh if only those poor misguided Chinese shared like the rest of us do we wouldn't have another cold-war." I mean I understand why you might be prejudiced to think that way because I presumably live in the same NATO bubble as you do, but this kind of "our values vs. their values" thinking is the exact Hollywood-like narrative that starts wars in the first place (and by that I'm not accusing only westerners of this, I'm pretty sure it happens in China too).
Not at all. I'm quite aware of the US having similar export restrictions of technology (esp. cryptography) in place for the same reasons China will not share this military-grade technology with others. Hence my Cold War mention.
For what it's worth I do agree with you that there will be another Cold War and it may in fact take place on a cyber-battlefield. I would argue though that the Cold War never ended (maybe somebody just hit a pause button).
But while technology might be used for purposes of conflict, I think that the digital age also has the potential to break the barriers of distrust and xenophobia between people of different nations. It's sort of happening on a small scale already. You are able to have a conversation with a person in China (when their internet is not being blocked) and realize that they are not a DVD-copying, cat-eating, environment-hating communist that your society might suggest they are. Governments often use the lack of knowledge about different nations to justify going to war or blocking trade. Maybe with the new age of global digital awareness we will not have such an easy time cultivating distrust and hate. Or maybe it's gotten to the point where we all distrust and hate each other on an individual level.. in which case we're all fucked
China has two of the world's fastest supercomputers and an active space programme, so they're not doing too badly. Slightly more outlandish, they're also the world leaders in cloud seeding, as they wanted to make sure that the weather for the Beijing Olympics was under control.
I just don't think having the most secure quantum cryptographic communication system is the type of technology they would gladly want to share with the rest of world. Sooner or later, the secret service (do they have one?) or military will be involved. Will we see another Cold War-ish information technology race?