On the plenum, thanks Bill for the machine learning translation (it takes me too long to read it in Chinese unless I am reeeeally motivated on a particular topic), when I see these docs I always feel sort of two things about them:

1) Terrified that they appear to have a comprehensive national strategy to invest massively in future tech while maintaining a crushing dominance at home over their own society that they seek to impose abroad as well, ultimately

2) The prudent thing for us is of course to act as if they can implement every single thing they say they will do (basically, invest massively to dominate future tech while maintaining crushing and dominance over their own society and extend that dominance abroad to a very large degree), but likewise a clear-headed assessment of what they will actually be able to implement is also necessary. We need to understand their system to start hammering at the cracks in it the same way they do at ours (and right now it looks like we have gaping crevasses not just cracks of course), and that requires a detailed understanding that’s not either “they’ll collapse,” “what happened in the past (growth) happens indefinitely into the future until it doesn’t,” “look at me I’m such a good person for empathizing with the other (and get paid handsomely by them to do it),” or “look how smart I am I’m nuanced.” This is a brutal autocracy that cannot be allowed to win and we need to defend ourselves to the uttermost while also realizing the goal is not the destruction of the Chinese people but protecting ourselves (and, ultimately, humanity) from, as churchill said, an abyss made more sinister by the lights of perverted science. So understanding what goes into making this kind of document, what was said (paraphrased) at the key meetings where each of these concepts was hashed out, what key issues is each concept implicitly recognizing and trying to deal with, what challenges do they themselves foresee, where are they blind to the weaknesses of strongman and authoritarian rule, etc.