UL NO. 433: China's Flawed Strategy

A new book, A new Fabric pattern, Autonomous fighter jets, Friend trips, and more…

Author

Daniel Miessler
May 20, 2024

SECURITY | AI | MEANING :: Unsupervised Learning is a website, newsletter, and podcast about how to survive and thrive as humans in a post-AI world.

TOC

NOTES

Hey there,

Hope you’re doing well!

  • We added a new Fabric Pattern called explain_terms, which takes an input, finds the difficult terms, and gives a definition, an analogy, and why it matters. MORE

  • Had a great weekend at my annual EDC pilgrimage of music and friendship at EDC in Vegas. So tired. So refreshed.

  • If you don’t have one or two friend trips planned per year, I recommend you get them going. Even if it’s local camping or something. Just get your friends together away from devices to enjoy each others’ company, music, nature, or whatever.

  • I’m thinking of writing a short book about what people will need to be anti-fragile in a world full of AI. My working title is: Human 3.0 — The skills and mental frames required to thrive in a post-AI world. Let me know your thoughts on the title, and if you’d be interested in reading a book like that.

Would you be interested in buying/reading this book?

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Ok, let’s get to it…

MY WORK

SECURITY

FBI seizes hacking forum BreachForums — again
The FBI, along with international partners, seized BreachForums again—this time also hitting its Telegram channels. They were hit last year too, but bounced back under new management. MORE

Chinese Brain Drain
Microsoft is moving nearly 10% of its China-based tech talent to relocate, signaling a potential tech exodus amidst U.S.-China tensions. This move could lead to a significant brain drain from China, especially since these employees are in the critical fields of AI and Cloud. MORE

💡I am very happy about this.

This is a bigger point than just that story, but it seems like the US is set up to win in so many ways right now. Which is weird, because the US is a mess too.

Europe’s economy is suffering from missing the innovation boat because they’re obsessed with regulation, and China is making their country so hostile that the West is pulling away from it, while the smartest Chinese find ways to get away.

This leaves the imperfect US (and Canada) as the only ones leaning into pure innovation and attracting talent. Nowhere is this more clear than with the Bay Area AI boom.

China is at a major disadvantage with AI because government control over its population depends on a government-controlled narrative that falls apart under scrutiny and analysis.

I feel like AI somehow encourages people to question things, and push what’s possible. To grow, and build, and create. And if the smartest Chinese do that in China they’ll run into obstacle after obstacle. And eventually they’ll just leave, which is great for the West and horrible for China.

So between China hacking everyone, threatening everyone, not having enough kids, and controlling narratives and innovation, they’re potentially building their own implosion.

The world will pull away from them, and their best minds will flee.

Autonomous F-16 AI Pilots
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall recently flew in an AI-controlled F-16, finding its capabilities nearly on par with experienced human pilots. MORE

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TECHNOLOGY

Google I/O 2024: everything announced
Everything announced at Google I/O. MORE

It’s just impossible for me to get excited because they’re so bad at product management. They’re like an idea lab instead of a company.

So I’m like, “Wow, that’s cool. Can’t wait for OpenAI or Apple to productize that!”

Avoiding the Mediocre Success Trap
Interesting idea about how a home run or striking out is far better than the limbo of a mediocre success. It’s about getting a strong signal, which partial wins don’t really give you. MORE

📃Ilya Sutskever suggests mastering these 30 papers to grasp 90% of crucial machine learning knowledge. MORE

HUMANS

Ancient Stars in Our Galactic Backyard
MIT researchers stumbled upon three ancient stars, some of the universe's oldest, casually orbiting our Milky Way. MORE

Whale's Secret Code
Scientists just found that whales have their own 'alphabet' in their songs. My buddy Marc has been working on deciphering this stuff for years. Super interesting. MORE

Swiss vs. American Parenting: A US Mom's Perspective
A US mom shares how Swiss parenting's emphasis on independence and freedom was a culture shock compared to American ways. In Switzerland, kids as young as four are encouraged to walk to school alone. MORE

IDEAS & ANALYSIS

Small Therapy?
I think the magic amount of therapy (for most people—not all) might be some relatively small amount that untangles your knots, but doesn’t point your lens permanently on yourself and your troubles. I feel like too much therapy has the approach of bad Chiropractors—where the goal is more visits, not on getting to where you don’t need the visits.

RECOMMENDATION OF THE WEEK

Make sure you have 1-2 friend trips planned per year. Even if it’s not everyone, and even if it’s not some extravagant thing.

Like 2-3 days. Camping. HIking. Whatever. Even just a role-playing weekend away from computers with friends.

Maybe have a rule of no tech during the time, with the focus being on friendship and the activities you’re doing together.

Super replenishing.

APHORISM OF THE WEEK

❝

For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thank you for reading.

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Happy to be sharing the planet with you,