Elsa Kania on China’s Quantum Quest
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 22 September 2018
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
If you ask scientists what is most likely to kick off the next great wave of technological change, a good number will answer “quantum mechanics”—a field whose physics Albert Einstein once described as “spooky,” but whose potential, once tapped, could unleash exponentially faster computer processes, unbreakable cryptography, and new frontiers in surveillance technology.
No one understands this better than the People’s Republic of China, who over the last several years has built up an aggressive state-driven campaign to accelerate the development of quantum technology—a set of policies intended to put it at the very front of the pack of the next technological revolution, and all the competitive advantages it is likely to bring.
To discuss this development, what it may mean for the future, and how the United States should respond, Scott R. Anderson sat down with Elsa Kania, an adjunct fellow with the Center for a New American Security and the co-author of a new report on China’s efforts to achieve “Quantum Hegemony.”
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising. |
| 0:04.0 | To access an ad-free version of the LawFair podcast, |
| 0:08.0 | become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash law fair. |
| 0:14.0 | That's patreon.com slash law fair. |
| 0:18.0 | Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, |
| 0:22.0 | rational security, chatter, law fair no bull, and the aftermath. |
| 0:30.0 | In recent history, a American military technological advantage has been a key pillar of power and predominance, |
| 0:40.0 | but today that is starting to change. |
| 0:42.0 | It's no longer the case that China can't innovate in. |
| 0:45.0 | By contrast, sometimes there's too much hype or exaggeration of China's potential in innovation, |
| 0:50.0 | and reality always falls somewhere between those extreme perspectives, |
| 0:54.0 | but it is clear that China is catching up and is devoting and mobilizing considerable resources. |
| 0:59.0 | For quantum computing, communications, and other technologies and applications in the space. |
| 1:07.0 | This will be an important space to watch going forward, and it's been exciting to have the chance to attempt to create an initial baseline. |
| 1:15.0 | And we're China is today what we're looking to go and what some of the potential implications of those ambitions may be. |
| 1:21.0 | I'm Scott R. Andersen. This is the LawFair podcast for September 22, 2018. |
| 1:27.0 | If you ask scientists what is most likely to kick off the next great wave of technological change, |
| 1:32.0 | a good number will answer quantum mechanics. |
| 1:35.0 | The field whose physics, Albert Einstein once described as spooky, |
| 1:38.0 | whose potential once tapped, could unleash exponentially faster computer processors, |
| 1:43.0 | unbreakable cryptography, and new frontiers in surveillance technology. |
| 1:48.0 | No one understands this better than the people's Republic of China, |
... |
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