2 ms·
Context: Thiel originally made this claim in a speech where he claimed Google is committing "treason." [1] Given his "evidence" that's obviously insane. A large
by kahnjw 7y ago
Context: Thiel originally made this claim in a speech where he claimed Google is committing "treason." [1] Given his "evidence" that's obviously insane. A large fractions of large multinationals have offices in China. I assume the editors at the Times told him that was a non-starter so he toned it down a bit.
Nowhere in the article does he disclose that he, at one point, owned 10% of facebook, a top competitor of Google's.
Most ironically, Facebook announced they'd open an office in china over a year ago [2].
He makes unsubstantiated claims that technology coming from this lab will be useful in the military before all else etc. He neglects to mention Google's public intent for the office, which has nothing to do with the military [3].
[1] https://www.axios.com/peter-thiel-says-fbi-cia-should-probe-google-9846a042-e689-49bc-bdc7-595988ce5d8c.html https://www.axios.com/peter-thiel-says-fbi-cia-should-probe-...
[2] https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/24/17607992/facebook-allowed-china-censorship-ban-hangzhou-zuckerberg https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/24/17607992/facebook-allowed...
[3] https://ai.google/research/join-us/beijing/ https://ai.google/research/join-us/beijing/
- espeed 7y agoChina currently does not have the capability to design and make advanced hardware microprocessor chips. The Google/IBM OpenPOWER Foundation is simultaneously researching nextgen chips and teaching China how to do so. Giving China this capability, i.e. gifting the gap, will give China an advanced hardware capability they do not have and did not earn. It will undoubtedly be used by the Chinese military. The supercomputer labs is the primary target. The AI race is already a big unknown, and the Chinese government internal checks and balances are inorganic and not yet tested. Remember the tenets, be slow to speak and be wary of unearned wisdom. What is the point of accelerating this?