As America obsesses over ChatGPT, it’s losing the race with China on tech in 37 out of 44 key areas, study funded by the State Department says

美国国务院资助的一项研究表明，由于美国痴迷于ChatGPT，在44个关键领域中已有37个输给了中国

 The cutting edge of technology in 2023 is artificial intelligence, with the ChatGPT as a revolutionary tool that is being adopted at record speed. But it could just be a sideshow to the real story: China’s emergence as the world’s tech superpower. From Baidu’s Ernie Bot to electric vehicle maker BYD, China has had an answer for almost every technological development taking on the world. The U.S. has responded with trade restrictions that limit Beiing’s access to critical materials for making chips used to power gadgets. A think tank study partly funded by the U.S. State Department found that China’s lead is “sometimes stunning” and Western de ocracies are floundering.

2023年的前沿科技是人工智能，作为一种革命性工具，ChatGPT正以创纪录的速度传播。但这也许只是真实世界的一个小插曲：中国正异军突起，走在通往全球科技超级大国的金光大道上。从文心一言到电动汽车制造商比亚迪，中国在几乎所有的科技发展领域都有亮眼的表现。作为回应，美国采取了贸易限制措施来阻挠中国采购用于制造电子设备芯片的关键材料。美国国务院参与资助的一项智库研究发现，中国的领先“令人震惊”，而西方国家正在苦苦挣扎。

The study by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), based in Canberra, found that in 37 out of 44 areas covering crucial technology such as defense, space, artificial intelligence, and robotics, China is clearly in the lead. And while the U.S. occupies second place in most categories, China is far ahead thanks to its stellar research, knowledge imported from overseas, and years of policy work geared toward tech talent and investments.

位于堪培拉的澳大利亚战略政策研究所(ASPI)进行的这项研究发现，在涉及国防、太空、人工智能和机器人等关键技术的44个领域中，中国已在37个领域中明显处于领先地位。虽然美国在大多数领域都依然排在第二位，但由于中国出色的研究能力、从海外引进的知识，以及多年来深耕科技人才和投资的政策工作，让中国已实现遥遥领先。

"Western de ocracies are losing the global technological competition, including the race for scientific and research breakthroughs," said the ASPI report, which tracked “high-impact” research based on citation numbers to measure the areas in which countries were having breakthroughs. The think tank urged Western governments to invest more in research and development.

ASPI的报告称：“西方国家在全球科技竞争中已显露疲态，在科学和研究突破方面的竞争中失去领先地位。”ASPI根据论文引用数量进行“高影响力”的研究，衡量各国在哪些领域取得了科技突破。该智库已敦促西方政府加大研发投资力度。

The few areas where the U.S. remains the leader include vaccines and quantum computing, the study found. It did note, however, that China and the U.S. are far above any other country worldwide. Other tech powers such as the U.K., India, Germany, and Japan are trailing in the distance, with smaller pools of research and investment in their respective technology fields.

该研究发现，美国现在依然保持领先地位的少数领域包括疫苗和量子计算。不过，报告也指出，中国和美国远远领先于其他国家。英国、印度、德国和日本等其他科技强国紧随其后，在各自科技领域的研究规模和投资规模方面较为逊色。

In the coming years, China could have a monopoly in 10 different fields ranging from electric batteries to 5G. ASPI cautioned that if China’s technological dominance is left unchecked, it could skew “global power and influence” in a way that is no longer transparent and available to public access or scrutiny.

在未来几年，中国可能会在从电池到5G等10个不同领域实现霸主地位。ASPI警告说，如果对中国的科技主导地位放任不管，它可能会以一种不再透明、不对公众公开或不接受审查的方式操纵其“全球实力和影响力”。

以下是美国reddit网友的评论：

Bewaretheicespiders

I am not a defense expert, but I am an AI expert, and clearly China isnt leading anything in Space, where its still catching up and where USA's SpaceX leads anyone by 15 years or more, and it certainly is not leading in AI either.

我不是国防专家，但我是人工智能专家，很明显中国在太空领域并不占据领先地位，它还在迎头追赶，美国的SpaceX领先全球15年甚至更长时间，另外中国在人工智能方面也肯定尚未领先。

pthurhliyeh2

It does say "high-impact research papers" though. What does that mean?

文中提到了“高影响力的研究论文”。这是什么意思呀？

E_to_the_van

This study was brought up in another defense-oriented sub a while ago and the general consensus was that it was meant to boost funding for the DOD.

这项研究结果是不久前一次国防会议上发布的，大家普遍认为这份报告只是为了抬高国防部的预算。

Good_old_Marshmallow

I don’t want to just dismiss this report but there is clearly two cooperating biases at play here. The state department has an incentive to make China seem like it’s wng some contest because that gives it political capital and China has an incentive to look like it’s wng some kind of contest

我并不想驳斥这份报告，但报告里显然存在两种相互合作的偏见。国务院有动机让中国看似在竞争中占据优势地位，这给它政治资产；而中国也有动机假装在竞争中胜出

Narf234

I always worried about this problem when I wrote papers I needed citations for. Sure, they were on topic but the quality…yikes.

我写论文需要引用资料时，总会担心这个问题。当然，他们是进行了研究，但是质量就……

MissorNoob

This is their general strategy for a lot of things. They have athletic schools where they train citizens from a young age to absolutely dominate all of the fringe events at the Olympics.

他们在很多事情上都采取了这种策略。他们有体育学校，运动员很小就开始训练，就是要在奥运会的所有边缘项目上取得绝对领先。

PRiles

No a Defense expert, but pretty well versed in it. If China was leading in defense Taiwan would probably be owned by them already. They are similar to Russia in that their best equipment isn't fully adopted by their entire force. They are largely a conscript military and their force structure is more focused on officers leading everything. Also they don't have the ability to project power globally. That isn't to say they aren't making progress and that they aren't a threat, just that they aren't as big a threat as people seem to think.

我不是国防专家，但算得上精通。如果中国在国防领域领先，可能就已经武统台湾地区了。他们就像俄罗斯，没有为全军配置最好的装备。他们可以说是被征召的军队，他们的部队系统更强调一切听指挥。他们也没有在全球范围内部署军事力量的能力。我没有否认他们有进步，也没有否认他们确实能构成威胁，我只是说他们还不是人们以为的重大威胁。

slaymaker1907

Yeah, I’ve talked to people who’ve worked in both and there’s a lot of garbage getting published in China due to publication requirements for degrees. If they’re good, they will probably move to the US as we’re really the center of tech.

没错，我和这两个领域的业内人士沟通过，因为中国的学位有论文发表的要求，所以他们发表了很多垃圾论文。如果他们确实优秀可能会来美国，因为美国是真正的科技中心。

WhatADunderfulWorld

The US is superior in everything besides certain manufacturing. And will be for a long time. It’s impossible to compare the two countries as Chinas numbers are hard to know as fact.

除了某些制造业，美国在其他方面都是遥遥领先的，而且一时半会不可能被赶超。这两个国家没有可比性，因为中国的数字很难核实。

ofds

You can't be serious by simplifying space research to just space travel, there are literally hundreds of research topics about space.

你可别把太空研究简单视为太空旅行，针对太空的研究主题有数百个之多。

aleksfadini

I can confirm that the same happens with papers in mathematics. Chinese institutions know that the metric by which they are judged is number of papers and citations, not meaningful content, so they publish a lot of those and they cite their own papers.

我可以肯定，论文数也是如此。中国的大学很清楚，衡量论文的标准是论文数量和被引用次数，而不是有意义的内容，所以他们发表了大量论文，并引用自己的论文。

Templeofthemadcow

Thank you for the clarification. I am not as articulate with the facts as you were, but this just felt off.

谢谢你的解释。我不像你，能把事实说得这么清楚明了，但就是感觉不对。

secretaliasname

As an American the fact that fellow Americans are in denial about falling behind is how I know we are fucked.

我是美国人，看着美国同胞们否认美国落后的事实，我终于知道我们落败的原因了。

thesh0e92

The number of "China develops super wonder anti cancer drug" articles that pop up here kind of hints that to me.

大量“中国研发超级抗癌神药”的文章早已向我暗示了这一点。

GG_Top

State dept also publishes hundreds of useless papers no one ready, so that fits

美国国务院也发表了数百份一无是处的论文，真是巧了

Fr00stee

dont they do the exact same thing to make their universities look more important and better on a global scale and bump up their rankings?

他们为了提高他们大学的重要性，提高世界排名，不也是这么操作的吗？

tirius99

Genuine question. Are these scientific papers published in Chinese or in English? If it's in Chinese, how much of it is translated into English?

China has a larger population that can read English than Americans who can read Chinese.

真心提问。这些科学论文是用中文还是英文发表的？如果是用中文发表的，有多少被翻译成了英文？

能读懂英语的中国人比能读懂中文的美国人要多得多呢。

SlugTheToad

Australia is also being softpowered by China heavily, no wonder about this article either

澳大利亚也被中国的软实力深深影响了，所以他们会写出这篇文章也就不足为奇了。

grislebeard

I didn’t see the last time Melon Husk launched multiple space stations and moon rovers

上次马斯克公司发射多个空间站和月球探测器，我可没看到。

gopher65

No. Maybe 5 years. Granted, several of the organizations nip at SpaceX's heels are American, but not all of them are. There will be rockets better than the F9 within 3 years. By that time SpaceX will be refining Starship (which should launch very soon as I write this! Yay!), but others won't be sitting still either.

5 years ahead, tops.

也许领先了5年。当然，有几家紧跟在SpaceX后面的公司也是美国的。3年内会出现比F9更出色的火箭。到那时，SpaceX将改进Starship(我写这篇文章的时候，应该很快就会发射了!)，但其他人也不会坐以待毙。

最多领先5年。

QuentinUK

Since AUKUS they’re US’s 走狗 and the US just wants Tech Cold War to replace Russia now they’ve pulled out of Afghanistan.

因为AUKUS是美国的走狗，美国只想通过科技冷战来取缔俄罗斯，现在他们已经撤出阿富汗了。

BreakThings

State department propaganda machine working overtime to make US citizens as fearful of China as possible.

美国国务院的宣传机器又在加班加点地忙活了，势必要让美国公民尽可能地害怕中国。

peter303_

Older people remember similar "losing the war" scares about Japan in the 1980s and USSR in the 1960s. They may catch up, but rarely exceed.

The important thing is strong STEM training and employment programs. When I lived in China I noticed a much stronger interest in STEM than the US. Some Americans say STEM is too difficult or not as lucrative as other occupations.

年长一些的人会记得上世纪80年代日本和60年代苏联都让美国有过类似的“输掉战争”的恐慌。他们可能能赶上美国，但很少会超过。

大规模的STEM培训和就业计划非常重要。我在中国生活时发现人们对STEM的兴趣比美国强很多。一些美国人则认为STEM太难或不如其他职业赚钱。

KahuTheKiwi

When I was a youngster import restrictions meant most manufactured products came from the UK and people sought out US products at higher prices.

Now most manufactured products come from China and high quality ones come from South Korea, Japan or Germany.

我年轻时，采取进口限制意味着大多数制成品来自英国，人们花更高的价钱购买美国产品。

现在大多数制成品来自中国，优质产品则来自韩国、日本或德国。

Randommaggy

The 996 culture is a guarantee that no great progress will be made.

996文化确保了他们不可能有太大进步。

Worsebetter

State dept. you GOT EM’. They are dumb compared to you. Whoa. Are you that guy from good will hunting?

美国国务院你终于发现他的问题了。和你比起来，他们太愚蠢了。哇。所以你是《心灵捕手》里的那个他吗？

Denslayer

Culture wars instead of actuality teaching science , math and grammar

文化战争取代了现实来教授科学，数学和语法

whatistheformat

Yes, and our conservative states are doing everything they can to knock off those last remaining markers. They want to hobble and/or dismantle public schools and libraries as if their goal were to move kids over to Talban-like religious schools. How competitive is Afghanistan with China technologically?

是的，保守的州正在尽一切努力消除那些仅存的标记。他们想要阻碍甚至拆除公立学校和图书馆，他们似乎想把孩子们转到塔利班宗教学校。阿富汗在科技方面能和中国竞争吗？

Gubekochi

Gee whiz willickers! It's almost like encouraging anti-intellectualism as an element of culture and treating education as an evil that must be tolerated could have some unforeseen (/s) side effects!

哇！这简直就像鼓励反智主义作为文化元素，将教育视为不得不容忍的罪行，可能会产生一些不可预见的副作用！

percydaman

You just don't understand their genius. By removing all those 'woke' education policies, it helps kids concentrate better on reading, writing, and arithmetic.

你只是不清楚他们的精髓所在。废除所有“觉醒”的教育政策，可以帮助孩子们更好地专注于阅读、写作和算术。

jtworks

Right, if everyone was just the same political party as me then all problems would be solved!

是的，如果每个人都和我是同一个政党，那么所有问题都将迎刃而解！