kittic's review against another edition
4.0
A fascinated glimpse into the machine that is the Chinese state.
exactly_here's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.75
czytomasz's review against another edition
4.0
Miejscami dość monotematyczna i naiwna, zwłaszcza w kwestii wskazywania różnic i potencjalnych zagrożeń dla państw zachodu. Napisane dość przystępnie, dzięki czemu nawet ktoś taki jak ja, kto na informacje dotyczące Chin trafia wyłącznie incydentalnie, mógł uzyskać przybliżony obraz obecnej sytuacji. Dużo o cenzurze i budowaniu autorytaryzmu, o samej technologii jest tam znacznie mniej niż się spodziewałem widząc tytuł. Polecam zwłaszcza tym, którzy chcą zobaczyć, jak fikcja znana nam do tej pory tylko z „Black Mirror” powoli staje się rzeczywistością.
kurwaczytaj's review against another edition
4.0
Ve stínu pandemie, která přišla právě z Číny a vyvolává spoustu otázek má tato kniha ještě temnější nádech než měla v roce 2018, kdy vyšla poprvé. Nicméně i bez toho je to docela mrazivé čtení i pro lidi, kteří nežijí přímo v Číně. Autor se věnuje spoustě témat, které se točí kolem nové – silikonové – Číny, kde ale stále vládne komunistická strana, přestože ekonomicky už je země víceméně kapitalistická.
— Autor mapuje zapojení Číny do výzkumu umělé inteligence a big data a tvrdí, že to bude další velká věc, která promění tvář světa a kde zatím má šanci jen Amerika a Čína. Jak Evropa, tak ještě více Rusko jsou zde odsouzeni do role pouhých diváků.
— Dále zde najdete popsané fungování kreditového systému a to nejen toho slavnějšího státního, tak i těch ostatních – soukromých – spojených s velkými čínskými obchody. Také nesmí chybět různé aspekty cenzury nejen na webu a sociálních sítích.
— Velký prostor je věnován popisu toho, jak Čína ovlivňuje svůj obraz nejen v Evropských zemích. Jak působí na čínské studenty studujících na školách na Západě a v USA, na různé emigranty a na samotné fungování zahraničních universit a vědeckých institucí. Jak ovlivňuje zahraniční firmy a závěru knihy je pár odstavců věnováno i čínskému trojskému koni v EU Miloši Zemanovi a lidem kolem něho.
— Kniha se čte dobře. Autor do ničeho nezabředává tak, že by se čtenář začal nudit. Opravdu skvěle vybalancoval čtivost a množství a odbornost informací. Neklouže po povrchu a ani nenudí. Knihu bych tedy doporučil všem, kterým nevadí číst non-fiction.
— Autor mapuje zapojení Číny do výzkumu umělé inteligence a big data a tvrdí, že to bude další velká věc, která promění tvář světa a kde zatím má šanci jen Amerika a Čína. Jak Evropa, tak ještě více Rusko jsou zde odsouzeni do role pouhých diváků.
— Dále zde najdete popsané fungování kreditového systému a to nejen toho slavnějšího státního, tak i těch ostatních – soukromých – spojených s velkými čínskými obchody. Také nesmí chybět různé aspekty cenzury nejen na webu a sociálních sítích.
— Velký prostor je věnován popisu toho, jak Čína ovlivňuje svůj obraz nejen v Evropských zemích. Jak působí na čínské studenty studujících na školách na Západě a v USA, na různé emigranty a na samotné fungování zahraničních universit a vědeckých institucí. Jak ovlivňuje zahraniční firmy a závěru knihy je pár odstavců věnováno i čínskému trojskému koni v EU Miloši Zemanovi a lidem kolem něho.
— Kniha se čte dobře. Autor do ničeho nezabředává tak, že by se čtenář začal nudit. Opravdu skvěle vybalancoval čtivost a množství a odbornost informací. Neklouže po povrchu a ani nenudí. Knihu bych tedy doporučil všem, kterým nevadí číst non-fiction.
thelasteffect's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Summary: f*cked me up.
A bit slow in the beginning but still interesting as it went over China's culture and past. Zoomed through the last two thirds as it went on to current events and international stuff.
Would defo recommend for anyone remotely interested. Just be prepared to be depressed after lol
Jumble of bullet point thoughts:
- I thought this would focus on the social credit system which I've been interested in learning more about. There was a small section for it, but the book actually ended up being a summary of China's past, it's turbulent journey through different communist leaders, and how it's ended up with it's current political culture of fear, manipulation, and gaslighting
All of which was all essential to understand the background and surrounding context to the social credit system, plus I ended up learning a lot; win-win!
- The book discussed a point I've never considered before - having a brutal dictatorship is a practical nightmare when running a country. One person cannot make informed, effective decisions about every subject of national importance, so there will be (and has been many) bad decisions made as a result (healthcare and the strategy for dealing with the COVID outbreak being a prime example. Look at the state they're still in). Plus, with any slight against the CCP getting the harshest repercussions, all data and reports coming in from different departments/provinces will likely be from sycophants or people fearing for their lives (in other words, figures will be incorrectly inflated for self-preservation). This will only make the misinformed-decision making worse. I wonder how many disasters have actually been covered up by the CCP so successfully that we don't even know about them
- It's one thing to vaguely know their govt is oppressive, but a different thing to actually read about the blatant Orwellian techniques used by the CCP in China and how much they get away with. The more I read about facial recognition and AI the less I feel optimistic about the future :(
- Very interesting to read about the gaslighting around Tienanmen Square, Mao, and other failings of the CCP (even internationally!)
- The brainwashing of their citizens from a young age at schools to never diverge from the government-approved line of thinking is crazy. Plus, Parents having to be careful about what they say to their kids in case they repeat stuff at school is upsetting to think about. Imagine experiencing events in the past and watching your kid grow up thinking the opposite and not being able to tell them for their own safety??? Scary shit.
Interesting point brought up about the US having a higher number of AI specialists that China is trying to attract. Having an education system that attempts to make their population as uniform as possible is not conducive to producing experts that push boundaries or think outside the box. Wonder what the long term implications will be tech-wise
- The grip the CCP has on a lot of Western universities, cultural institutions (Hollywood), and companies is very worrying. Capitalism at its finest! I'll be reading more into the Confucius Institutes for sure
- The last quarter of the book genuinely darkened my mood. The author started talking about the CCP's attempt to broaden its influence on an international scale and how they've succeeded so far. Reading about them buying up EU delegates from central/eastern European states was shocking. And reading up on how they've successfully changed EU reports and legislation (and have literally gotten sentences erased that don't reflect well on China) is even worse
- I would be very interested to read an updated version of this taking Russia's invasion of Ukraine into account and the US/UK's recent legislation limiting China's access to Western semiconductor resources/expertise! I will defo be looking into the UK/US’s official stances on China as well now – I know current governments have been cracking down on the tech side but this is surely part of a larger initiative?
There's so much I've left out but this is everything off the top of my head
A bit slow in the beginning but still interesting as it went over China's culture and past. Zoomed through the last two thirds as it went on to current events and international stuff.
Would defo recommend for anyone remotely interested. Just be prepared to be depressed after lol
Jumble of bullet point thoughts:
- I thought this would focus on the social credit system which I've been interested in learning more about. There was a small section for it, but the book actually ended up being a summary of China's past, it's turbulent journey through different communist leaders, and how it's ended up with it's current political culture of fear, manipulation, and gaslighting
All of which was all essential to understand the background and surrounding context to the social credit system, plus I ended up learning a lot; win-win!
- The book discussed a point I've never considered before - having a brutal dictatorship is a practical nightmare when running a country. One person cannot make informed, effective decisions about every subject of national importance, so there will be (and has been many) bad decisions made as a result (healthcare and the strategy for dealing with the COVID outbreak being a prime example. Look at the state they're still in). Plus, with any slight against the CCP getting the harshest repercussions, all data and reports coming in from different departments/provinces will likely be from sycophants or people fearing for their lives (in other words, figures will be incorrectly inflated for self-preservation). This will only make the misinformed-decision making worse. I wonder how many disasters have actually been covered up by the CCP so successfully that we don't even know about them
- It's one thing to vaguely know their govt is oppressive, but a different thing to actually read about the blatant Orwellian techniques used by the CCP in China and how much they get away with. The more I read about facial recognition and AI the less I feel optimistic about the future :(
- Very interesting to read about the gaslighting around Tienanmen Square, Mao, and other failings of the CCP (even internationally!)
- The brainwashing of their citizens from a young age at schools to never diverge from the government-approved line of thinking is crazy. Plus, Parents having to be careful about what they say to their kids in case they repeat stuff at school is upsetting to think about. Imagine experiencing events in the past and watching your kid grow up thinking the opposite and not being able to tell them for their own safety??? Scary shit.
Interesting point brought up about the US having a higher number of AI specialists that China is trying to attract. Having an education system that attempts to make their population as uniform as possible is not conducive to producing experts that push boundaries or think outside the box. Wonder what the long term implications will be tech-wise
- The grip the CCP has on a lot of Western universities, cultural institutions (Hollywood), and companies is very worrying. Capitalism at its finest! I'll be reading more into the Confucius Institutes for sure
- The last quarter of the book genuinely darkened my mood. The author started talking about the CCP's attempt to broaden its influence on an international scale and how they've succeeded so far. Reading about them buying up EU delegates from central/eastern European states was shocking. And reading up on how they've successfully changed EU reports and legislation (and have literally gotten sentences erased that don't reflect well on China) is even worse
- I would be very interested to read an updated version of this taking Russia's invasion of Ukraine into account and the US/UK's recent legislation limiting China's access to Western semiconductor resources/expertise! I will defo be looking into the UK/US’s official stances on China as well now – I know current governments have been cracking down on the tech side but this is surely part of a larger initiative?
There's so much I've left out but this is everything off the top of my head
beata8olejnik's review against another edition
4.0
Bardzo ciekawa książka. Spodziewałam się, że będzie trochę więcej o technologii, a tak naprawdę były o tym tylko 2 rozdziały. Tłumaczeniu przydałaby się dokładniejsza redakcja, bo niektóre zdania zgrzytały.
khalliday's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.0
Lots of information. Hard going at times