It appears that Chinese individuals unfamiliar with Western culture may not grasp sarcasm. Similarly, Westerners who lack exposure to Chinese culture might find certain practices unacceptable.

TODAY: A top private school in California was thrilled that many of their students were just named National Merit Semifinalists. So the school, Basis Independent of Silicon Valley, published photos of the students—and @RuiMa, a must-read editor at TechBuzzChina, was intrigued to notice that they were all Asian except one. While it’s certainly true that harmful stereotypes should be avoided, it’s a good thing to look at data and trends and think about their implications in a beneficial way. It seems to me that the conclusion is simple: If different cultural groups really have different skills, that gives even more weight to the call for all members of humanity to work together cooperatively for mutual benefit of the planet. As Confucius said in The Analects two and half millennia ago -- "All people are siblings." #bettertogether . .

The statement is interesting. I'm wondering if he is a Chinese spy working in US gov adm. He cares so much about China while US have so many problems to solve. Is he working for China or American people??? 🤔

Ini gak tau seberapa akurat tapi klo separuhnya aja bener udah sangat2 luar biasa dibandingkan anggota kabinet pemerintahan RI

🚨 We don't need a war in Ukraine. Peace in Ukraine is in Germany's interests. I do not want German soldiers and weapons to be sent to Ukraine. I am ashamed that after World War II German tanks were used against Russia again. It's a shame for our country." -Alice Weidel, AFD Well, that’s a real opposition.

I resigned from Anthropic today. I spent the last three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic. Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives. More thoughts below.

‼️ BREAKING: OpenAI might have stolen another mathematician's work, as he suspects one of OpenAI's flagship proofs was helped along by his own unpublished work. This one published the email exchange. Last month OpenAI said its Astra model had settled a question in group theory that had been open for 27 years. The proof's key step came from work Andreas Thom published with Gábor Kun. For months before the announcement, Thom had been working through that same mathematics with ChatGPT. So he emailed OpenAI researchers Mark Sellke and Sébastien Bubeck with two questions: had those conversations entered the training data, and were they available to the model while it worked on the problem? Sellke's complete reply, Thom says, was "Regarding your conversations with ChatGPT: that did not happen." Weeks later, in the separate Navier-Stokes dispute, OpenAI said no specific user data was accessed, but could not rule out that de-identified data from customers' use of its products had improved its models. Thom got no such caveat.

I used to like this country. ut now it becomes the most corrupt country in the world competing with under developed country

Indonesia's billionaire Hartono clan is quietly shifting hundreds of millions of dollars offshore as Southeast Asia's biggest economy loses momentum bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

小米的设计确实牛B啊！

川普再次表示：美国不应该保卫台湾。“美国距离台湾 9,500 英里，中国距离台湾 68 英里。那么近是中国的问题。中国很强大，有核武器，可以轻而易举炸，甚至不要炸，就可以得到台湾。就像保险公司，不交钱投保不给保护，但保险公司怎么会愚蠢到保护台湾。 我有很多台湾朋友。台湾抢走了我们的芯片生意”

RT @CarlZha: Why do rich countries like Japan, Norway and Iceland still hunt and slaugher whale commercially???

They were at a wedding. Not a military base. Not a battlefield. A wedding. Dresses. Flowers. Children. Families gathered for one of the happiest days of their lives. Then a U.S. munition came through the roof. Washington will call it an investigation. Military analysts will call it a missed objective. The family will call it the day a wedding became a funeral. They called it liberation. This is what “liberating the Iranian people” looks like when you are the person underneath it.

To be clear, "China derails" is the US's narrative of it: this was essentially the US setting up a communiqué designed to contain China, and China predictably refusing to sign it. It's even comical: for instance the communiqué (which you can read here: home.treasury.gov/news/press…) endorsed in paragraph 11 the IMF's "surveillance of global imbalances" - essentially asking the IMF, controlled by the US, to play watchdog on surplus countries. It's basically the US attempting to be judge and jury: "we'll define what counts as an 'imbalance,' have our own institution monitor it, and then prescribe the remedy - which, conveniently, is that you dismantle your economic model in our favor." Pretty funny that China is then blamed for "derailing the consensus" when refusing to sign this: it's akin to saying that the turkey "derailed Thanksgiving" by declining to climb into the oven. The communiqué even literally has an entire chapter called "addressing global imbalances" which is essentially all about telling China to change its economic model - referring to "countries with excessive and persistent external surpluses" whose "policies and practices result in harmful spillovers." China signing this would essentially be them acknowledging officially that their development model was "harmful" and a "distortion" the world needs to be protected from. You'd have to be insane to sign that: again, akin to our turkey saying he deserves the oven. The real story here, however, that the FT should have written and which is in fact worrying for China, is that everyone else - the 19 other countries of the G20, including Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov who attended in person - apparently signed the communiqué. Which, it's got to be said, is pretty cynical in the case of Russia given that the communiqué also includes anti-Iran language on the Strait of Hormuz, and that some of the anti-"non-market economy" language could just as well apply to their own economic model. That being said, there is no denying that it's inconvenient for China: cynically or not, the 19 biggest economies in the world did sign a paper that said China's surplus is a problem for them, which makes it a problem for China. Back in June I wrote about China's ancient tribute system (朝贡, "Chaogong", see my article here: arnaudbertrand.substack.com/…) and how, contrary to what many people believe, it was built on the principle of 厚往薄来 (giving out much more than you take in), making the relationship so valuable that countries fought to get in. In essence, the logic of Chaogong was that China's centrality had to be worth it for everyone else - that there needs to be a carrot - otherwise it's unsustainable. And, as I wrote back then, the irony is that when the West pushes China to boost domestic consumption and reduce surpluses, in effect it is them asking China to revive a Chaogong-like system, and asking for a carrot that makes it worth their while. I'd be ready to bet this is the direction of travel for China: not as a response to US pressure but because their own strategic tradition tells them that power needs to be sustained by generosity. Ironically, this means that the real story of this communiqué is this: we're at a unique historical moment where the rest of the world is practically begging to become Chinese tributary states.

China just glanced at Bessent’s allegation over the $1.2 trillion trade surplus: “We never intentionally sought this.” Translation: The world should be thankful that China earned a $1.2 trillion surplus through trade, rather than the United States extracting a $1.2 trillion surplus through unilateral tariffs. And if Washington thinks China’s $1.2 trillion trade surplus is something the world “cannot allow,” then perhaps the world should also ask why it should tolerate more than $40 trillion in U.S. debt while Washington keeps borrowing, printing, sanctioning and expecting everyone else to absorb the consequences. Now Washington wants the G20 to help pressure China. One small problem: many of those same countries have been hit by Washington’s own unilateral tariffs. America slapped its partners first, then turned around and asked them to join the anti-China choir. Except China is not a passive target. Countries that join the pressure campaign will have to absorb China’s retaliation too. So the deal Washington is offering its allies is basically: First, let America tariff you. Then, help America contain China. Then, you absorb the Chinese retaliation. What a fucking alliance. China earned its surplus by selling the world things it wanted to buy. America built its leverage by making the world finance what Washington wanted to spend. Your trade deficit is not China’s moral obligation to fix. If you cannot compete, that is not China’s crime.

Pattaya bars US Navy personnel from Soi 6 Pattaya authorities have designated Soi 6, Soi 6/1 and Soi 7 as off-limits to US Navy personnel during the USS Abraham Lincoln’s port visit to Chon Buri from 2–6 September. More than 5,000 US Navy personnel are expected to visit the area, with around 3,000 estimated to travel to Pattaya and stay overnight. US Navy personnel will also be barred from cannabis shops, pharmacies and water-based activities. They can visit Walking Street but must leave the area by 02:00. Authorities have also urged businesses to charge fair prices and strictly prevent sexual exploitation, particularly involving anyone under 18. #Pattaya #USNavy #USSAbrahamLincoln #Thailand

Why does the United States refuse to publicly acknowledge its imperialistic ambitions and desire to dominate all nations on Earth? Whenever a nation challenges them on any issue, they will destabilize and sanction that nation.

Why is America so easy to hack? Maybe NASA and the Senate should stop clicking every “ENLARGE YOUR PENIS” pop-up they see!!

欧美西方国家为什么恨中国？被一个英国学者说透了 英国学者杰森·希克尔说了句大实话：西方恨中国，不是因为民主人权，是因为中国砸了他们500年的饭碗。 一带一路让非洲、拉美、东南亚国家终于能不用看IMF脸色搞基建了。中国给技术、给贷款、不附政治条件。这动了谁的奶酪？ 希克尔算过一笔账：西方每年从全球南方榨走2.2万亿美元，够消灭极端贫困15次。这不是援助能补回来的——援助一年才1500亿，左手给右手抢。 500年前呢？中国GDP占世界三分之一，万国来朝，不靠抢。西方的"文明秩序"才是历史的异常。 八国联军抢了150万件圆明园文物、北京城掠走1.3亿两白银的时候，他们讲人权了吗？ 中国做衬衫的时候他们笑，中国做芯片的时候他们急。不是中国变了，是他们割不到韭菜了。 资本是吸血鬼，战争是它的餐具。什么时候这套秩序碎了，什么时候世界才真和平。