Technology
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From Biotech to AI
Can regulation of Biotechnology provide clues for the regulatory measures now required to limit risks in the use of AI? Continue reading »
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Our media won’t tell us but Huawei’s Mate60 is set to challenge iPhone
The moon waxes and wanes, the tide ebbs and flows, empires come and go but some empires come more than once. This is, once again, China’s time. While there have been moves to prevent this from occurring, one recent event proves they are unsuccessful. Continue reading »
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China’s artificial intelligence is a great leap forward: Australia’s opportunity?
Australian entrepreneurs and investors are already looking to the new developments in our region for inspirations and opportunities. They might look no further than China. Continue reading »
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The climate doesn’t care who builds batteries
Like it or not, the structure of global trade in green technologies and the raw materials required for their manufacture is being decided in an era when geopolitics trump markets, and the WTO’s credibility to check the abuse of national security exceptions is near rock bottom. Continue reading »
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Numbers fail to add up for central bankers in fight against inflation
The ground has been shifting under the feet of the world’s central bankers, including our own Dr Philip Lowe, the outgoing chief of the Reserve Bank. This has weakened the power of higher interest rates to get inflation down. Continue reading »
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US strategists plan to destroy Taiwan’s largest chip manufacturer
Should the US go to war with China, Taiwan’s largest chip maker, TSMC will be the first target to be blown up, according to a strategist at the US Air Force’s Air War College. Not by China, but by the US military. Continue reading »
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Our R&D system is in crisis. It’s time to act
Near on a decade of neglect has left Australia’s national innovation system in a lamentable state, as the Academy of Science has observed. Continue reading »
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The ageing challenge: navigating the pandemic, technology, and identity politics
Ten years ago, I wrote a book titled In Praise of Ageing. I found there is strong evidence that our attitude to life influences our longevity. But the obstacles we face today make slouching towards Bethlehem seem like a walk in the park. Continue reading »
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Behind the Chinese successful drive to become the largest vehicle exporter
Just released vehicle export figures for the first five months of 2023 indicated that China would be the world’s largest vehicle exporter in 2023. Continue reading »
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The corporate-government power nexus
Mass surveillance and manipulation should not be allowed to become the new normal. Continue reading »
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In the 1930s, scholars made remarkably accurate predictions on the China of 2030
“This nation, after three thousand years of grandeur and decay… exhibits today all the physical and mental vitality that we find in its most creative periods… Very probably such wealth will be produced in China [by 2030] as even America has never known and once again, as so often in the past, China will lead Continue reading »
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Knowing who we are: coping with Artificial ‘Intelligence’
We are at an existential turning point in the human story and, with it, the habitability of our planetary home. Continue reading »
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Visiting the doctor in the age of AI
On 8 May, Four Corners (Artificial Intelligence Rising: the new reality of artificial life), portrayed an isolated man’s relationship to a robotic woman and a sex doll, and in another scenario, artificial memories were generated for family members to communicate with the long dead – weird stuff. Continue reading »
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US trade restrictions may eclipse UAE’s moon plans
Recent reports indicate that the United Arab Emirates’ Rashid 2 rover planned for China’s Chang’e 7 mission to the moon in 2026 has hit an American speed bump. This ambitious mission is merely the next in the impressive Chang’e lunar series. It includes a moon orbiter, a lunar lander, a so-called “hopper” that can move Continue reading »
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Primed for the ultimate AI disconnection
Time to leave for planet Zog. That’s what came to mind recently I as pondered an article about young Japanese men and female holograms. Continue reading »
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‘Red scare’ in US causes multi-year flood of refugees with PhDs to China
OECD data shows China sustains net gain of scientists while US suffers net loss as ethnic Chinese researchers fear US government surveillance and prosecution. Continue reading »
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If only it was happening in Australia
The French Government’s Research Minister, Silvie Retailleau, has announced a plan to shake up the country’s scientific research including investing an extra Euro 26 billion (equivalent to A$42.5 billion.) Continue reading »
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Chinese scientists create sodium car
Breakthroughs set to make a big difference in energy sector Continue reading »
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President Biden resorts to extortion
President Biden has resorted to extortion to destroy one of China’s leading digital companies ByteDance, the owner of the highly successful social media group, TikTok. Continue reading »
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The US wants TikTok banned or sold
The United States’ issue with TikTok is uncannily reflective of its ongoing problem with China. It grew too fast for their comfort, is too economically and technologically successful and so deeply enmeshed in their lives that they felt the impulse to disengage. Continue reading »
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“Billion-dollar coffins”: detection tech to render AUKUS submarines useless
Speaking at a summit in San Diego on Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a decades-long strategy to deliver the most costly defence project in Australia’s history. Continue reading »
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Why China has passed the United States in science and technology
In recent weeks there have been a multitude of news items and reports emanating from various quarters indicting China has passed the United States in science and technology and this is likely an irreversible trend. Continue reading »
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Australia needs to think beyond China about data security
The discussion on TikTok and Hikvision infiltration in Australian government departments has centred inarticulately and dogmatically on the country of origin. But there are other more realistic and probable security threats lurking in plain sight. Continue reading »
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Neurofeedback works for trauma – let’s use it!!!
Everyone who has suffered abuse as a child deserves the opportunity to live free of its detrimental effects. Continue reading »
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What’s not to like about nuclear fusion?
Recently the mass media have bombarded us with hype about a ‘breakthrough’ in controlled nuclear fusion. Continue reading »
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Nuclear Fusion: It’s really about nuclear weapons, not clean energy
The development of Nuclear Fusion is not, as the media claims, about clean energy. Instead, it is driven by the United States’ desire to continue wielding its terrifyingly destructive nuclear weapons arsenal. Continue reading »
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(Un)common sense in the National Electricity Market grid design
In a recent (21 October) edition of Pearls and Irritations, Roger Beale suggested (amongst other things) that the Commonwealth should “seize sole control of the national electricity market” (the NEM) to bring stability to the energy transition and stop the states going their own way. Continue reading »
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This Techno-life: to simplify or not to simplify!
Understanding the difference between “needs” and “wants” is an essential lesson in the quest for simplicity. Continue reading »
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The story behind China’s fourth generation nuclear reactors
The fact that only China has implemented a Small Modular Nuclear Reactors is a testament to the skills and capacities of Chinese nuclear engineers and the policy makers that the West, despite renewed interest in the idea, will find difficult to match. Continue reading »
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Australia: An Electric Vehicle Battery manufacturing powerhouse?
Is it too late for Australia to enter the global market for Electric Vehicle Battery (EVB) manufacturing? It has become apparent that Australia’s exit in 2016 from local car production has made it more difficult for us to participate fully in one of the 21st century’s fastest growing, technically advanced and environmentally critical industries. Continue reading »
