George Soros' Strange Revelations About China Source: (https://bit.ly/3gdluHl) Part of the answer is to be found in technological progress, most of which is based on artificial intelligence, which was in its infancy in the 1980s. The development of AI and the rise of social media and tech platforms evolved together. This has produced very profitable companies that have become so powerful that no one can compete against them, though they can compete against each other. These companies have come to dominate the global economy. They are multinational, and their reach extends to every corner of the world. We can all name them: Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon. There are similar conglomerates in China, but their names are less familiar in the West. This development has had far-reaching political consequences. It has sharpened the conflict between China and the US and has given it an entirely new dimension. China has turned its tech platforms into national champions; the US is more hesitant to do so, because it worries about their effect on the freedom of the individual. These different attitudes shed new light on the conflict between the two systems of governance that the US and China represent. In theory, AI is morally and ethically neutral; it can be used for good or bad. But in practice, its effect is asymmetric. AI is particularly good at producing instruments that help repressive regimes and endanger open societies. Interestingly, the coronavirus reinforced the advantage repressive regimes enjoy by legitimizing the use of personal data for purposes of public control. --- George Soros also admitted that the statistics of the world's population are overestimated. The current situation doesn’t look promising. Making matters worse, China also faces a serious demographic problem. The birthrate is much lower than the published figures indicate. Experts calculate that the actual population is about 130 million lower than the official figure of 1.4 billion. This is not widely known, but it will produce labor shortages, slow the economy, aggravate the real-estate crisis, and heighten fiscal strain. ---