Rare earth elements (REEs) are vital for communications, the green energy transition and defence. They are produced almost exclusively in China, and it will be very difficult to challenge China’s dominance of the global REE market.
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Tag: Technology
This time it’s the end of democracy: Fukuyama and big-tech
How to Save Democracy From Technology: Ending Big Tech’s Information Monopoly puts forward a confused and inadequate set of arguments concerning the “gigantic Internet platforms Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Twitter”. Its focus on yesterday’s technological challenges while tomorrow’s threats are almost upon us is disappointing, and misses where the real threat to democracy and individual freedom is beginning to take form.
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Strategic autonomy in the face of competing US and China technology strategies: a European perspective (IFRI)
An invaluable introduction to the complex and critical struggle for technological superiority which will the characterise the geopolitical environment for decades to come. This report sets out all the key issues and addresses the question of how the EU could maintain strategic autonomy in the face of this competition between China and the US.
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Evgeny Morozov: COVID-19 and the relationship of capitalism, neoliberalism and technology’s ‘solutionism’
In government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, Evgeny Morozov sees a ‘feast of solutionism’ being unleashed. [W]e can see two distinct strands of solutionism in government responses to the pandemic. “Progressive solutionists” propose that timely, app-based exposure to the right information could “nudge” people to behave in the public interest, while “punitive solutionists”, by contrast, want to use surveillance infrastructure to monitor and manage daily activities. The risk, he argues, is that the pandemic will supercharge the solutionist state, … creating an excuse to fill the political vacuum with anti-democratic practices.
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EFF: The Challenge of Proximity Apps For COVID-19 Contact Tracing
There is a growing chorus calling for smartphone proximity technology to fight COVID-19. But smartphone tracking may not solve the problem, and contact tracing applications raise difficult questions about privacy, efficacy, and responsible engineering of technology to advance public health.
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