The Consumer Electronics Show was held earlier this month. It is the largest technical gathering in the world. With its closure, one sensed there was also an ending to American dominance.
CES should be rebranded to the Chinese Electronic Show. People around the world come to Las Vegas to see the latest and greatest. The problem is that the world of tomorrow is not round. It is flat. It tilts to Asia.
In the cavernous Las Vegas Conference Center, thousands of vendors showed their wares from robots to drones to safe homes to AI. Everywhere the Chinese had their booths, their young ladies speaking excellent English, their Chinese companies spelled out in Chinese hanzi promoting Chinese products.
Meanwhile our grand leader lies and pouts over his delusional wall, shuts out foreign talent, closes portions of the government and cuts mega dollars from research.
The present and future battle is not with soldiers. It is with scholars. The weapons are not guns. They are quantum computers. The bullets are 0s and 1s and quarks. Artificial intelligence and big data are the generals. Hacking, database thievery, malicious spyware don’t capture territory. It is all about the information.
While the Chinese pay for science, we put our students into thousands of dollars in debt. While we worship and make millionaires out of giant men inflicting mutual brain damage, we pay researchers relative pittance.
We elect the ignorant to rule. They are jealous of the educated. To inflict punishment they lower funds for education and give millions to their friends. “I have made you a lot richer” is the presidential declaration after his crushing tax cut.
Definitely, he has not made this country smarter or safer. Ask the those who attended CES.
Joseph Cramer, Murray
