Industrial Maximalism and Its Discontents: Dan Wang on US-China Competition – # 104

About this episode

Dan Wang discusses industrial maximalism and its implications in the context of US-China competition.

Links: Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future https://www.amazon.com/Breakneck-Chinas-Quest-Engineer-Future/dp/1324106034 Dan's 2025 annual letter https://danwang.co/2025-letter/ Related episodes: Jian Lian on Industrial Maximalism, Manifold Episode #99 https://www.manifold1.com/episodes/jian-lian-on-chinas-industrial-policy-and-global-strategy-99 (00:00) - Introduction and Welcome (02:14) - Breakneck - Dan's huge book (05:00) - China's Technological and Political Landscape (21:07) - Industrial Maximalism and its Discontents (47:59) - Chinese Researchers in Silicon Valley and Tsinghua (51:09) - Excerpts from Dan's 2025 annual letter (52:56) - China's Market Competition and Innovation (56:34) - AI, Automation, and Future Risks – Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics and of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Previously, he was Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation at MSU and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Science at the University of Oregon. Hsu is a startup founder (SuperFocus.ai, SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction, Othram) and advisor to venture capital and other investment firms. He was educated at…

People in this episode

Host: Steve Hsu

Guest: Dan Wang

Topics covered

• US-China competition
• industrial maximalism
• technology
• innovation
• AI and automation
• market competition

Keywords

• industrial maximalism
• US-China competition
• technology
• innovation
• AI
• automation
• market competition

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Michigan State University, SuperFocus.ai, SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction, Othram, Harvard, Yale, University of Oregon

Books & works: Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future, Dan's 2025 annual letter, Jian Lian on Industrial Maximalism

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