The Wubi Effect

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

History, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Science, Society & Culture

4.6 • 43.5K Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When we think of China today, we think of a technological superpower. From Huawei and 5G to TikTok and viral social media, China is stride for stride with the United States in the world of computing. However, China’s technological renaissance almost didn’t happen. And for one very basic reason: the Chinese language, with its 70,000 plus characters, couldn’t fit on a keyboard. Today, we tell the story of Professor Wang Yongmin, a hard-headed computer programmer who solved this puzzle and laid the foundation for the China we know today. Special thanks to Martin Howard. You can view his renowned collection of typewriters at: antiquetypewriters.com. EPISODE CREDITS: Reported by - Simon Adler Produced by - Simon Adler Sign up for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Signup (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)! Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today. Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected]. Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, I'm Latif Nasser.
0:02.7	This is Radio Lab.
0:04.6	So I've been seeing headline after headline lately about how the U.S. is in a race.
0:10.5	We need to compete with them.
0:12.0	With China.
0:13.0	We are in this high-tech competition with China.
0:15.1	Over AI.
0:15.9	AI arms race.
0:17.3	The country that leads in technology tends to lead the world.
0:20.2	We need to win the race here in the United States.
0:22.5	And this AI technological arms race, if you want to call it that, has been making me think about this episode that our senior producer Simon Adler made back in 2020.
0:33.9	The story he tells is the story of another arms race between China and the U.S., one that took place in the 1970s and 80s over a piece of technology that we now completely take for granted.
0:47.9	Crucially, though, the story starts at a moment when China, instead of being the technological superpower that it is today, was about to be left behind.
0:59.2	And the way that they caught up sort of set the table for this whole AI situation we are in right now.
1:07.3	Simon did a great job with it. It is a super fun story to listen to.
1:15.3	So, without further ado, I give you the Wobie effect.
1:18.8	Wait, you're listening.
1:19.3	Okay.
1:20.8	All right.
1:21.9	Okay.
1:23.4	All right.
1:26.7	You're listening to Radio Lab.
	...

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