Pearls and Irritations

Three years ago, in 2021, Henry Kissinger and two other noted gurus, Eric Schmidt, owning a technical background and who later became CEO of Google, and Daniel Huttenlocher, who founded Cornell Tech and was dean of MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, penned the book The Age of AI and Our Human Future. The book was published by Little Brown in New York.

The authors discussed the history of artificial intelligence, including how it grew in the West; how it will expand our knowledge and serve progress; and finally, how it may become a peril to humanity.

The most discussed other country in the book was China. That was natural given that China was the other major player in the world in developing and using AI. In fact, it was perhaps ahead of the United States. If it is not, it soon would be, given its financing of vast research on AI and related science.

How then do Americans and Chinese differ in their views of AI? Clearly, they do. Put in simple terms America is more pessimistic and fearful over AI than China, which is more optimistic and hopeful. Why is this so?

One reason, say Chinese academics, is that China and America are at different phases or stages of their history.

Post-WWII, America was so dominant economically and militarily, it almost alone designed a new global system. It funded serious aid programs to help developing nations, sustained a powerful military to keep its version of peace throughout the world, and much more. Subsequently, however, the nuclear standoff and thoughts of a nuclear war dampened its spirits and its optimism.

In 1976, China’s supreme leader, Mao Zedong, died and Deng Xiaoping transformed China into a free market, free trade, an essentially capitalist country. It boomed economically as if there were no tomorrow. Also, China modernised quickly in science and technology. It began to compete with the United States for global status.

In 2008, the US experienced a serious economic recession. Recovery took longer than in almost any time in history. China continued to boom unfazed. Thus, China passed the United States by a number of metrics of global power. In 2009, China became the world’s largest exporting country. In 2013, it became the planet’s biggest trading country, passing the United States. In 2014, China’s gross national product made it number one worldwide if calculated in purchasing power parity (a metric used by a host of international organisations). In 2015, China’s spending on research and development matched the United States. In 2016, China registered more patents than the US.

China’s rise continued. Relatively America was a declining power.

Today the US, owing to its large debt and the burden of paying the interest, cannot spend more on research and development or increase its military budget to compete with China in these and other realms. This evoked serious concern among Americans.

The political left in the United States offered some new ideas about America’s role in the world. DEI or diversity, equity, and inclusiveness was a big one. To many observers, this constituted an agenda of abandoning competition with China. To China, the US had entered a declining period in its history.

Meanwhile, many Americans had become preoccupied with Armageddon, the end of time, World War III, global warming that will make the earth unliveable in a decade, etc. And, of course, AI robots will displace humans in all important endeavours making the former useless and ready for extinction. Anyway, extreme pessimism grew.

In contrast, China’s view of its history centred on what it called a century of humiliation at the hands of foreign imperialists after the Opium War in 1839. To Chinese scholars, AI would enable China to finally end its shame and emerge as the world’s pre-eminent nation in an international system based more on money and technology – China’s strengths, and upon which in the past it based its leadership of its known world. This was an optimistic view.

There is more… According to my Chinese colleagues, another factor impacting their views of AI is the belief that intelligent people are not generally so fatalistic (or superstitious) about AI taking over and making humans their slaves. Some cite the lists provided by some European think-tanks of nations by IQ. Singapore is usually ranked #1 (a country that is 80% Chinese). The top city in the world is Shanghai. China itself ranks toward the top. America ranks below the list of the top 20.

Chinese people have several ideas to explain why they are smart. They sometime say simply it was God’s plan. But they also note that in China the lowest class in the society was the military and China fought its wars simply by killing as many enemies (or close) as the number of soldiers it sacrificed, and they would win owing to its much larger population. Often included among the soldiers were people with genetic defects or people of low intelligence. This was not the practice in the West or the US. Also, China experienced frequent floods and famines. The least prepared, meaning those of lesser intelligence, perished at a significantly higher ratio. Anyway, smarter people would be better able to cope with the rise of robots.

A related factor is that most Asians, particularly Chinese, believe in eugenics, the idea that we can improve humanity by certain policies and manipulation. This is not the case in the West, including the United States. The reason: Adolf Hitler advocated eugenics and practised it. Even though many noted Americans had advanced it in the past, it became taboo even to mention it after World War II.

So, when Mao instituted the one-child policy, doctors offering pre-natal care instructed their pregnant patients, if they had been sick, had taken any medications, had been with a husband who smoked in the house, etc. to abort the pregnancy and try again later when they were “clean” and healthy. They also told patients that had genetic diseases or were of low intelligence not to have any children.

Subsequently sperm banks came into common use in China. (Previously, childless couples would ask for a child from the husband’s brother or other close relative.) Donors to the banks had to provide a three-year family history that indicated no inherited diseases or criminals in the family. More important, following AI guidelines, donors had to have a college degree, which indicated high intelligence. Chinese mothers often asked for sperm from a man of “super-intelligence”.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Government established an organisation to study the backgrounds and traits of very gifted or genius children and learn from them how to enhance the intellectual capacities of regular smart children. Again, AI was used to upgrade China’s gene pool.

Finally, the Chinese Government advertised the beneficial aspects of AI. Hence, China’s citizens generally have a favourable impression of AI and support its use. In fact, it is considered very successful in maintaining order in society and especially effective in reducing crime and the threat of terrorism.

Chinese thus feel safe when they walk the streets even at night in the big cities. They do not fear being mugged, robbed, physically harmed, or murdered. These crimes are far fewer than in the United States even though China’s population is approximately four times that of America.

China’s residents also know that AI detects in advance who is dangerous. Those people are not allowed on airplanes and even, depending on the seriousness of the record, trains or buses. Individuals with bad numbers even draw attention when they enter banks and places where there are crowds or important activities.

Al also, and this is very important, makes doing business more efficient. In fact, residents of China realise that ordering and buying goods and other financial transactions are done electronically and/or by computer and AI is employed to make these transactions smooth and fast. China’s rapid moving and highly tuned economy depends on AI.

Finally, the use of AI has a very uplifting side. It keeps track of individuals’ social credit scores, ascertained by their paying bills or loans on time, supporting government social improvement movements, helping keep the environment clean, doing good turns to people in need, etc. Social credit is widely used in China and has public support.

In the United States, AI data keeping is widely regarded as facilitating the deep state and the government bureaucracy and controlling the individual in an intrusive, if not evil, manner. Many see it as attacking freedom and as politically biased. AI is therefore undemocratic.

In summation, recently Chinese and American officials with an interest in AI met to discuss “issues” related to the use and reliance on AI, called the Kissinger dialogues. They noted the differences in views the other espoused. On one point, they agreed that AI was perhaps too efficient and too quick in making military decisions and human input could lead to more caution and better ensure that escalation did not lead to uncontrolled war – as Kissinger argued. Meanwhile, Americans learned of a much less gloomy view of AI.

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