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Not could, is. With the exception of the US, China is already ahead of all other countries. A friend who's one of the top quantum physicists in the world recent

Not could, is. With the exception of the US, China is already ahead of all other countries. A friend who's one of the top quantum physicists in the world recently returned from a stint in China. He told me that the University lab he was at had more equipment and resources than exist in the entire country of Australia. Within 10-25 years it will become compulsory for western scientists to learn Chinese. They simply value science far more so than we do in the western countries.

JohnJamesRambo 8y ago
This is not my experience working with Chinese scientists in chemistry in my lab. None of the ones I work with want to go back to China and they are very critical of the validity of any science done there.
- bsaul 8y ago
  Do you have more specifics on what the critics were ? I have the intuition that you can't really do good science in a totalitarian regime (because superior pressure is too high, and totalitarian regimes are often associated with "fear to fail" state of mind), but it's just a belief.
  - JohnJamesRambo 8y ago
    They think a lot of the science is just made up and not rigorously tested at all. They also dislike the way promotion and advancement is done there, not based on the scientist's merit but based on who you know, nepotism, corruption, etc.
    - grizzles 8y ago
      I don't doubt it but don't you think it would be easy to find American scientists that feel the same way? Also I'll just point out that your sample is biased to people who have chosen to leave. Of course they made the right decision!
thefounder 8y ago
It's not that they value science more than we do but it's the only way to rule the world and it looks like China is aiming for that. What would the U.S be without science/technology? This is a never ending game.
- temp231239 8y ago
  How is that different form what US has been doing for last few decades? Seems like being ahead in science is like license needed to rule the world. In current time, everyone(no matter at what level in authority hierarchy) wants to rule over others. This kind of selfish mentality is sure to bring end to what we have achieved so far.
cscurmudgeon 8y ago
The best Chinese researchers are willing to put up with multi-year queues to get a green card. I don't see that happening the other way round. No one is breaking down walls to get into China. The opposite is happening. https://knoema.com/atlas/United-States-of-America/topics/Demographics/Population/Net-migration-rate https://knoema.com/atlas/United-States-of-America/topics/Dem... https://knoema.com/atlas/China/topics/Demographics/Population/Net-migration-rate https://knoema.com/atlas/China/topics/Demographics/Populatio...
educationdata 8y ago
That is because the leading scientist of the lab can get lots of funding, and bc of the unique funding mechanism in China he must spend those money as fast as he can. When I was a student in China many years ago, I saw lots of high end Unix workstations in physics lab and nobody knows how to use them. Professor told me they had to spend the money...

JohnJamesRambo 8y ago

This is not my experience working with Chinese scientists in chemistry in my lab. None of the ones I work with want to go back to China and they are very critical of the validity of any science done there.

bsaul 8y ago
Do you have more specifics on what the critics were ? I have the intuition that you can't really do good science in a totalitarian regime (because superior pressure is too high, and totalitarian regimes are often associated with "fear to fail" state of mind), but it's just a belief.
- JohnJamesRambo 8y ago
  They think a lot of the science is just made up and not rigorously tested at all. They also dislike the way promotion and advancement is done there, not based on the scientist's merit but based on who you know, nepotism, corruption, etc.
  - grizzles 8y ago
    I don't doubt it but don't you think it would be easy to find American scientists that feel the same way? Also I'll just point out that your sample is biased to people who have chosen to leave. Of course they made the right decision!

thefounder 8y ago

It's not that they value science more than we do but it's the only way to rule the world and it looks like China is aiming for that. What would the U.S be without science/technology? This is a never ending game.

temp231239 8y ago
How is that different form what US has been doing for last few decades? Seems like being ahead in science is like license needed to rule the world. In current time, everyone(no matter at what level in authority hierarchy) wants to rule over others. This kind of selfish mentality is sure to bring end to what we have achieved so far.

cscurmudgeon 8y ago

The best Chinese researchers are willing to put up with multi-year queues to get a green card. I don't see that happening the other way round. No one is breaking down walls to get into China. The opposite is happening. https://knoema.com/atlas/United-States-of-America/topics/Demographics/Population/Net-migration-rate https://knoema.com/atlas/United-States-of-America/topics/Dem... https://knoema.com/atlas/China/topics/Demographics/Population/Net-migration-rate https://knoema.com/atlas/China/topics/Demographics/Populatio...

educationdata 8y ago

That is because the leading scientist of the lab can get lots of funding, and bc of the unique funding mechanism in China he must spend those money as fast as he can. When I was a student in China many years ago, I saw lots of high end Unix workstations in physics lab and nobody knows how to use them. Professor told me they had to spend the money...