https://archive.is/HQdI2

Archive link: https://archive.ph/6Iiag

Chinese researchers have unveiled a new rare earth alloy so cold and efficient it could upend decades of reliance on helium-3 and send shock waves through the global race for quantum computers or ultra-sensitive detectors.

A mini-fridge built with the alloy has achieved temperatures extremely close to absolute zero using no moving parts. And it comes at a time when the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is actively hunting for exactly such a technology.

On January 27, DARPA issued an urgent call for proposals: develop a modular, helium-3-free cooling system for next-generation quantum and defence technologies.

Less than two weeks later, the Chinese scientists answered – with a paper published in Nature.

The alloy “has the potential for mass production. The joint team has recently successfully developed a pure metal refrigeration module based on this alloy material,” the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said on its website on February 13.

“This highly efficient cooling module could offer a stable, portable cooling source for quantum chips and support major space exploration projects with a self-reliant refrigeration system,” CAS added.

“It marks a ‘China solution’ that ends dependence on helium-3.”

In physics, the lowest possible temperature is 0 Kelvin, or minus 273.15 degrees Celsius (minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit), a state known as “absolute zero”.

As materials approach this temperature, they exhibit radically different properties: liquid helium loses friction, mercury becomes superconductive and much cutting-edge quantum research becomes possible.

Currently, achieving such extreme low temperature primarily relies on a technique called dilution refrigeration, which requires helium-3. This stable isotope of helium is an essential resource that China largely imports. Its main sources are linked to nuclear weapons programmes in the United States and Russia, as well as civilian nuclear power plants in Canada.

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According to a research paper published in the journal Nature on February 11, the team employed an entirely different solid-state cooling technique known as adiabatic demagnetisation refrigeration (ADR).

In simple terms, the process involves a magnetic alloy being first placed in an existing low-temperature environment. Applying a magnetic field forces the countless internal microscopic magnets to align uniformly, releasing heat that is carried away.

When the alloy is then isolated from the environment and the magnetic field is removed, the internal magnets return to a disordered state, a process that absorbs heat and further lowers the material’s own temperature.

A major hurdle in this process has been the poor thermal conductivity of traditional materials. While they could get cold themselves, they struggled to effectively cool the surrounding components.

The collaborative team from the Institute of Theoretical Physics and the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science under CAS, together with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, has discovered a new material, a rare earth compound called EuCo2Al9 (ECA). It possesses thermal conductivity similar to metal, allowing it to efficiently channel the cold outward.

“ADR using ECA has achieved a minimum temperature of 106 millikelvin, setting a new record for metallic materials. Also, at such extreme temperatures, its thermal conductivity is one to two orders of magnitude higher than traditional magnetic refrigeration materials, overcoming the key bottleneck of inefficiently extracting the cooling power,” according to the academy.

The ADR method, which eliminates the need for helium-3, is gaining traction in the academic world.

In 2024, Peking University built two “refrigerators” using this principle for quantum computing research, which have been operating stably for several months.

Lightweight portability is poised to be a key advantage of the ECA refrigeration module. This year’s Chinese government work report mentions the goal of “cultivating and developing the quantum technology industry”.

Currently, superconducting quantum computers require massive dilution refrigerators to cool their chips to sub-kelvin temperatures. In the future, a more portable refrigeration module like this could be instrumental in building smaller, more compact quantum computers.

What this shows is that even severely damaged ecologies can be largely healed and restored in as little as a decade through scientific planning and proper investment by a powerful central authority that can mobilize society toward this goal. In addition, a smart ecological restoration initiative will also benefit the local economy. Cleaning up rivers from pollution opens up possibilities for recreational activities and tourism, sustainable fishing, etc. just like how combating desertification can revitalize local agriculture and bring new economic opportunities for the people living there.

Song noted that since taking office, Cheng has expressed her willingness to visit the mainland on multiple occasions, and that the invitation was extended to promote the relations between the CPC and the KMT and the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations.

Canadian liberal who fell for Canadian propaganda experiences an awakening upon contact with reality:

As a Canadian, I have always taken pride in my country’s commitment to human rights, due diligence, and evidence-based foreign policy. We are a nation that prides itself on “peacekeeping,” not warmongering; on diplomacy, not hyperbole. That is why I find myself profoundly disappointed—not just as a Canadian, but as a citizen of a country that claims to value truth—when I listen to the Parliamentary Questions coming out of Ottawa regarding Xinjiang.

The language used in is alarming. Terms like "concentration camps" are thrown around with a casual certainty that bears no resemblance to the reality I have witnessed with my own eyes. Having made three trips to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the last nine months, I have seen a reality that is diametrically opposed to the narrative being pushed by our Members of Parliament.

I am not a journalist embedded with a government delegation; I am a Canadian who traveled independently. I went expecting to verify the headlines we see in Canadian media. Instead, what I found was a region vibrant with culture, actively preserved and proudly showcased.

Here is what I observed on the ground, and why I believe Ottawa’s rhetoric is not only wrong but dangerously disconnected from the facts.

The Cultural Reality I Witnessed

During my three trips, I spent time in Kashgar, Urumqi, Tashkurgan and the surrounding areas. The narrative I was sold in Canada was one of cultural erasure. The reality I experienced was the exact opposite.

1. The Old City of Kashgar One of the most striking examples of cultural preservation is the Old City of Kashgar. Canadian politicians describe a region being "flattened" or "assimilated." Yet, I walked through the labyrinthine alleyways of this ancient Uygur city, which has been meticulously preserved as a historical site. The local government didn’t tear it down; they invested in upgrading the infrastructure, running water, natural gas lines, and earthquake proofing, while maintaining the traditional Uygur architecture, wooden pillars, and intricate brickwork.

In the evenings, I watched in the alleyways while children ran through streets paved with traditional kuzi bricks. This wasn’t a ghost town; it was a living, breathing historical center.

2. The Grand Bazaar and Livelihoods The Id Kah Bazaar in Kashgar is not only open; it is thriving. I saw Uygur artisans selling hand-engraved copperware, traditional atlas silk, and locally grown dried fruits. Far from being forced into labor, I spoke with shop owners who explained that tourism encouraged by the government’s infrastructure investments had allowed them to expand their family businesses.

If the goal were cultural genocide, as some Canadian MPs allege, why would the state invest billions into preserving the mihrabs in mosques, restoring the Id Kah Mosque (one of the largest in China), and promoting Uygur cuisine and music festivals? It simply doesn’t add up.

3. Videos from the Ground I am sharing some videos in my posts to show the reality. In one clip, you can see Uygur dance another a traditional wedding I went too.

The Disconnect in Ottawa

As a Canadian, this embarrasses me. We claim to be a nation that stands for truth and reconciliation. Yet, when given the opportunity to send independent observers or journalists to verify facts, our government often chooses to boycott or criticize the very invitation for transparency.

If our Parliament is going to make accusations as severe as "genocide" and "concentration camps," the onus is on them to provide evidence. My three trips over the last nine months provided evidence of the opposite: a region where Uygur culture is not only preserved but celebrated, and where the so-called "camps" are actually vocational training centres, facilities I drove by I that looked into them focused on giving people skills in Mandarin and industrial skills.

The following is a statement by Friends of Socialist China – U.S. socialistchina.org/

Increasingly countries are able to resist U.S. imperialism’s most violent, unpredictable attacks and overwhelming firepower by sharing simple technology, resisting U.S. sanctions and increasing trade with each other.

Iran has made stunning progress in self-defense capability by developing many thousands of relatively low tech, far less expensive drones. The Pentagon and the Zionist military are forced to burn through precious supplies of fabulously expensive and complex interceptor missiles in an effort to block barrages of Iranian drones that are very effective.

Until recently the U.S. had a chokehold on many forms of technology. Those days are past.

Iran has acquired significant and strategic technological, military and surveillance capability from China, strengthening its defense capabilities and internal security infrastructure. Key areas include missile components, air defense systems, drone technology, AI-enabled surveillance and satellite navigation via the BeiDou system to track U.S. forces. This boosts Iran’s operational capabilities.

Although satellites are now precise enough to read the license on a car from space, all of the maps available commercially are clouded over on U.S. bases and important industrial and military sites. Only the Pentagon had full access or the ability to read in real time tens of thousands of complex images.

Real-time intelligence sharing

But once technology exists it is impossible to keep it in a box.

China has utilized its fleet of 500-plus satellites to provide the world with constant SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) and terrain mapping. This support helps Iran track U.S. naval movements in the Persian Gulf region in real-time.

Chinese commercial satellite firms, notably MizarVision, have publicly released high-resolution, AI-annotated, satellite images of U.S. military bases and assets throughout West Asia.

The company specializes in generating geospatial intelligence. The images appear in near-real time. So U.S. aircraft, naval vessels and air defense systems (such as Patriot and THAAD systems) are visible in locations including Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain.

Conventional armed forces are now vulnerable to observation from hundreds of satellites in low Earth orbit. A number of the facilities and assets posted by MizarVision were subsequently targeted by Iran in missile and drone strikes, which were launched after the U.S. and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28.

The deluge of material shows how difficult it has become to hide military assets.

MizarVision’s account on X media site made its first post on Feb. 24, four days before the U.S. launched their sneak attack.

This now publicly accessible imagery can be downloaded almost immediately, offering a cheap source of real-time intelligence. The images of U.S. bases, naval groups and air defence systems are all labelled and geolocated using artificial intelligence.

China has also supplied to Iran advanced UHF-band radars like the YLC-8B, which uses low-frequency waves to negate the radar-absorbent coatings used by U.S. stealth bombers and fighters.

Iran has been able to transition to the Chinese BeiDou satellite navigation system as an alternative to the U.S.-created GPS system to avoid manipulation and prevent U.S. intelligence from using it to track Iranian targets within the country.

Continued Chinese trade with Iran

It is well-known that in the face of the harshest U.S. sanctions against Iran and a demand that every other nation comply with U.S. sanctions and join in blockading Iran, China has continued a steady trade with Iran utilizing both open trade and shadow fleets. China accounts for 80%-90% of Iran’s total oil exports. Other key imports include Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), petrochemicals, plastics, iron / steel, copper and mineral-based products.

This lifeline is part of a 25-year strategic cooperation agreement signed in 2021. In return China gives concrete assistance in infrastructure development, providing machinery, mechanical appliances and parts, electrical machinery and electronics, tractors and trucks.

China has provided diplomatic support for Iran and clearly pledged continuing humanitarian assistance while denouncing the U.S.-Israeli war as being a flagrant violation of international law. (tinyurl.com/5arzw49k)

The most important component is Iran’s determination to defend itself and to acquire the technology, training and skills to maintain and strengthen its sovereignty.

Increasingly, countries determined to survive U.S. domination recognize the value of sharing skills and technology in confronting a vicious system built on maximizing profits to billionaire corporations.

Go to socialistchina.org/2026/03/25/chinas-role-in-supporting-iran/ to see the statement.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202603/1357519.shtml

Full article.

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/11141812

A report by official Chinese media on Wednesday unveiled two new types of anti-drone laser weapons. A developer said such laser weapon systems, supported by intelligent targeting and multi-sensor integration, demonstrate strong responsiveness and adaptability, while enabling coordinated operations within an integrated combat network.

Footage released in the CCTV News report showed how the systems countered low-altitude, slow-flying small drones simulating covert penetration on the battlefield, flying at an altitude of 50 to 80 meters, which is within the blind spot of conventional radar systems.

More advanced threats such as fiber-optic drones, capable of transmitting real-time data and video through physical links and thus resistant to electronic interference, pose additional challenges and often require physical destruction, according to the CCTV News report.

In response to such threats, multiple counter-drone systems were featured. A container-like platform identified as the “Guangjian-11E,” or Light Arrow-11E, multi-mode terminal jamming system can rapidly lock onto targets and disrupt their onboard sensing and targeting functions, the report said.

The “Guangjian-21A”, or Light Arrow-21A, system, meanwhile, operates in a “shoot-on-the-move” mode, allowing it to maintain sustained firepower while reducing exposure to counterattacks, reported CCTV News.

In terms of engagement methods, the “Guangjian-21A” specializes in “hard-kill” capabilities, generating high-density energy beams over several kilometers to penetrate drone structures and destroy internal circuits or propulsion systems within seconds. By contrast, the “Guangjian-11E” employs a soft-kill approach, using pulsed laser energy to precisely disable key components, effectively blinding drones and disrupting their reconnaissance and data transmission functions, reported CCTV News.

These complementary “soft” and “hard” kill methods address targets at different ranges and threat levels, filling gaps in each other’s operational coverage, CCTV News said.

Both systems are equipped with phased-array radar and infrared detection systems, and can interconnect via both wired and wireless links to enable real-time data sharing and precise target identification and engagement, according to the CCTV News report.

The laser systems, as next-generation equipment, feature multi-source detection and intelligent identification, enabling rapid response and adaptive targeting. Integrated into a broader combat system, the platforms can coordinate “soft” and “hard” kill methods and link with radar and electro-optical sensors to form a rapid “detect-to-destroy” chain, Zhou Shuiliang from the Aviation Industry Corporation of China was quoted by the CCTV as saying.

Previously, multiple types of anti-drone equipment were reviewed in formations at China's V-Day military parade on September 3, 2025 to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, addressing the importance of anti-drone warfare on the modern battlefield.

Anti-drone missile and artillery systems, high-energy laser weapons, and high-power microwave weapons reviewed at the parade are a powerful "iron triangle" that can both "soft kill" and "hard destroy" unmanned aerial vehicles.

Given the widespread deployment of drones on the battlefield, countries are now prioritizing the development of efficient counter-drone systems and platforms, Wang Yunfei, a Chinese military affairs expert, told the Global Times.

The inclusion of high-energy laser and high-power microwave counter-drone systems in the parade indicates that both have demonstrated strong performance in realistic training, and suggests that China’s laser- and microwave-based counter-drone technologies are at the forefront globally.

Zhang Xuefeng, another Chinese military affairs expert, told the Global Times that high-energy laser weapons can quickly and accurately detect, aim, and track targets. Using high-energy lasers, it only takes a few seconds to shoot a drone down.

"This genre of anti-drone systems has high accuracy, minimal collateral damage, the advantage of unlimited ammunition, and very low operating costs, making it the lowest cost anti-drone equipment in a single deployment," Zhang said.

Archive link: https://archive.ph/gsvf3

BEIJING, May 12 (Xinhua) -- China will establish a tiered AI education system spanning primary, junior high, and senior high schools to guide students from foundational cognitive awareness to practical technological innovation, according to policy documents unveiled Monday.

At the primary school level, the Ministry of Education (MOE) prioritizes AI literacy through exposure to basic technologies, such as voice recognition and image classification. Building on this foundation, junior high school students will deepen their understanding of AI logic, examine machine learning processes, and develop critical thinking to identify misinformation in generative AI outputs.

Progressing to senior secondary education, the focus shifts toward applied innovation. Students will use accumulated AI knowledge to design and refine AI algorithm models, while cultivating interdisciplinary systems thinking.

To achieve the goals, the MOE will integrate AI-enabled teaching competencies into the teacher training framework. Additionally, it mandates schools to develop age-appropriate curricula with tiered instructional practices that align with cognitive development stages.

Notably, the MOE underscores generative AI's pedagogical potential. "Teachers can empower generative AI tools to construct interactive teaching and create immersive learning experiences," said an official overseeing basic education.

The official also called for strengthening students' logical and innovative thinking through generative AI-powered interactive learning ecosystems.

Meanwhile, the MOE prohibits students from submitting AI-generated content as academic work or examination responses. Simultaneously, it demands that teachers cultivate learners' capacity for critical thinking of AI outputs, thereby fostering authentic engagement in information processing.

On r/Sino: https://www.reddit.com/r/Sino/comments/1krrjki/china_will_establish_a_tiered_ai_education_system/

(ECNS) -- China has announced new discoveries of rare earth elements and other critical minerals in Sichuan and Gansu provinces, the Ministry of Natural Resources said, adding to the country's strategic resource base.

Rare earth elements, fluorite, barite and antimony were identified in Mianning county in Sichuan and Dangchang county in Gansu province, the ministry said Wednesday.

The findings mark the latest progress in China's new round of mineral exploration efforts. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021–2025), the campaign has

identified 10 oil fields with reserves exceeding 100 million metric tons each, along with 19 large gas fields, the ministry said.

Reserves of key minerals such as uranium, copper, gold, lithium and potash have also increased.

Major deposits discovered in recent years include a copper resource exceeding 100 million tons in Xizang Autonomous Region, a large gold mine in Laizhou of east China's Shandong province, and a significant lithium deposit in Yajiang of Sichuan Province.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/44988406

A render of Tianwen-2 surveying 2016HO3/469219 Kamoʻoalewa as part of China’s ongoing asteroid sample return mission.

Long Lehao (龙乐豪), a veteran of China’s space industry [Also of Space-Based Solar Power support fame.], recently delivered a presentation at the 2026 Second Commercial Space Industry Development Conference & Commercial Space Exhibition (2026第二届商业航天产业发展大会暨商业航天展) in Shenzhen (深圳市), Guangdong (广东) province, where he provided an update to China’s asteroid deflection test mission.

That mission, pending a name via public solicitation, is currently scheduled to be launched atop of a Long March 3B/E out of the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in December 2027, with two satellites being thrown into deep space. The first satellite, an observer, will arrive at the target asteroid in early 2029, via a Venus flyby, to characterize it, while the impactor spacecraft should arrive in April 2029 to slam into the target at a speed of around ten kilometers per second.

Alongside the launch date, Long Lehao revelead the the deflection test mission is now targeting asteroid 2016 WP8, which passes across Earth’s orbit on a 13.3 degree inclination and completes a lap around the sun every 341 days. The size of 2016 WP8 is unknown but it has a magnitude of 23.9, meaning it may be no larger than forty meters across.

Targets for the deflection test have changed a few times. Originally, the lower inclination 2020 PN1, no larger than seventy meters, would have been hit. A year later, the almost Mars-reaching 2019 VL5 was a potential target, with its about forty-meter size. And the previous target was the Venus-crossing 2015 XF261, up to around thirty meters across. [For previous targets, please see Space News’ reporting: July 2022: 2020 PN1, April 2023: 2019 VL5., July 2024: 2015 XF261.]

A slide presented by Long Lehao in mid-March 2026 detailing the December 2027 launch and the new target of the asteroid deflection test mission.

In an update to the mission six months ago, Wu Weiren (吴伟仁), the Chief Designer of China's highly successful Lunar Exploration Program, said that the aims of the deflection test are:

“Upon impact, the aim is to generate a significant kinetic energy in order to alter the asteroid’s orbit. We plan to achieve an orbital deflection of about three to five centimeters.”

Designs of the two spacecraft are yet to be revealed, but work on the mission has been under study and development since 2022. The Tianwen-2 (天问二号) asteroid sample return mission is likely to inform aspects of the deflection test, as it will provide an understanding of how to approach and survey asteroids.

At the Two Sessions (两会) this year, China’s policymakers approved of a near-earth asteroid defence program via the 15th Five-Year Plan. In September 2025, Wu Weiren unveiled initial plans for a planetary defence system that would redirect or destroy hazardous asteroids. Within five years, systems for increasing the capacity of near-Earth object monitoring, cataloguing, early warning, and response should be established, with international partners encouraged to join and collaboratively work on Earth defence efforts.

To date, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) in 2021-2022 is the only successful proving that throwing spacecraft into asteroids at great speed is a viable means of altering their orbits, having slowed Dimorphos’ orbit by 33 minutes.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/44890650

Does the old man think we can't tell this is AI-juiced? Whatever gets the Amazon book bux Powell 😭 Nonetheless, this is extremely cool. Cutting edge iridium semiconductors and other newfangled shit keeps falling off my radar because I mainly care about the energy+obligation web binding humanity together.

In the second week of February 2026, a quiet revolution landed in the pages of Science Advances. A team from Peking University’s School of Electronics, led by researcher Qiu Chenguang in collaboration with academician Peng Lianmao of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, unveiled the world’s smallest ferroelectric field-effect transistor (FeFET). Its physical gate length: just 1 nanometer. Its operating voltage: a mere 0.6 volts. Its memory performance: an on/off current ratio of up to 2 × 10⁶, programming speeds as fast as 1.6 nanoseconds, and switching energy around 0.45 fJ/μm - roughly one-tenth the best previously reported figures.

For the first time, ferroelectric memory has achieved voltage compatibility with state-of-the-art logic transistors (typically ~0.7 V). Data can now flow between memory and compute units at the same low voltage, without charge pumps, voltage converters, or the energy penalties that have plagued attempts to integrate non-volatile memory with logic at scale. The device uses metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes (m-SWCNTs) as the gate electrode, a 2D molybdenum disulphide (MoS₂) channel, a ferroelectric layer of CuInP₂S₆ (CIPS), multilayer graphene, and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) in a van der Waals heterostructure. The magic lies in the “nanogate” effect: the ultra-sharp 1 nm tip concentrates the electric field, creating localised intensities high enough to switch the ferroelectric polarisation well below its nominal coercive voltage, while dramatically improving capacitance coupling. Short-channel effects - the bane of conventional scaling - are rendered irrelevant.

This is not another headline-grabbing lab curiosity. It is a material foundation for the next era of computing: ultra-low-power, in-memory, edge-native intelligence that can operate at the scale of angstrom nodes without the voracious energy appetite of today’s hyperscale silicon. And when placed within the broader Chinese technology stack - 2D semiconductors, graphene-enhanced structures, triboelectric and piezoelectric nanogenerators, flexible energy storage - it becomes something far more consequential. It becomes the energetic substrate for what I have called Digital Westphalia: a global digital order grounded in nation-state sovereignty, energetic realism, and systemic abundance rather than rentier extraction and entropic financialisation. Understanding the Breakthrough in Plain Terms

Ferroelectric transistors have long promised non-volatile memory that retains data without power, switches at high speed, and consumes almost no standby energy. Their polarisation states act like tiny, permanent magnets for electrons. The problem has always been scaling and voltage. Traditional FeFETs required gate voltages above 1.5 V to flip the ferroelectric layer reliably, while logic transistors had dropped below 0.7 V. Integrating them meant wasteful voltage step-up circuits and heat. Shrinking the gate below 5 nm triggered short-channel leakage and loss of control.

The Peking team solved both with a radical redesign. By replacing a planar gate with a 1 nm-diameter carbon nanotube, they turned the gate into a nanotip lightning rod for electric fields. Simulations and measurements show field strengths inside the CIPS layer reaching 2.7 × 10⁶ V/cm at just 0.6 V applied - more than five times the material’s coercive field in a conventional geometry. Capacitance coupling efficiency soars because the tiny gate concentrates voltage drop across the ferroelectric rather than wasting it elsewhere. The result is a device that not only scales but thrives at the 1 nm limit, immune to the physics that doom conventional designs.

Reviewers noted the achievement’s elegance: voltage efficiency exceeding 125 % (operating voltage below coercive voltage), retention and endurance suitable for real-world use, and compatibility with existing CMOS processes via 3D heterogeneous integration. The implications for large-model inference, edge intelligence, wearables, and IoT are immediate. A single edge node can now perform sophisticated inference with energy budgets measured in femtojoules rather than picojoules or worse, opening the door to truly battery-free or energy-harvesting devices.

Situating the Advance in a Thermoeconomic Framework

To grasp why this matters beyond the semiconductor roadmap, we need a different lens: Systemic Exchange Value (SEV), or what I shorthand as thermoeconomics. Traditional economics treats value as subjective preference revealed in prices, with GDP as the aggregate scorecard. It abstracts away the energetic and entropic realities that actually sustain life and production. SEV starts from the opposite premise: economies are first and foremost systems of energy transformation. All use-value is ultimately embodied energy - direct and indirect - embedded in material configurations that deliver services over time. Exchange-value is the monetary claim on that embedded energy, modulated by the Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROEI) of production and use.

Three interlocking circuits define the system:

The thermodynamic circuit: real transformation of energy into ordered structures (infrastructure, devices, knowledge), inevitably producing entropy (waste heat, disorder);

The exchange-value circuit: endogenous money and financial claims that allocate claims on future available energy in potential (AEP - available energy in potential); and

The information circuit: data, algorithms, and coordination mechanisms that reduce uncertainty and thereby improve EROEI by minimising wasteful friction.

Productive systems expand systemic abundance when they increase net AEP faster than entropy degrades it. Maladaptive systems - those that channel liquidity into low-EROEI activities (speculative finance, planned obsolescence and rent extraction, for instance) - accelerate entropy, erode adaptive capacity, and eventually face collapse or forced reorganisation.

In information technologies, the dominant metric has been “performance per watt,” but SEV demands a deeper accounting: the total energetic cost of the entire lifecycle, including the embodied energy of fabrication, the operational exergy destruction (waste heat), the systemic coordination overhead, and the long-term adaptive value created. Hyperscale cloud architectures score poorly here. They concentrate enormous computational capacity in a few geographic nodes, requiring massive cooling, redundant power generation, and transcontinental data transmission. Every query to a large language model can consume energy equivalent to a household’s daily use. The EROEIu (use-phase return) looks impressive in narrow benchmarks but collapses when externalities - grid strain, water consumption, geopolitical chokepoints on undersea cables - are internalised.

The nanogate FeFET flips this script. By slashing operating voltage and enabling seamless memory-logic integration, it dramatically reduces exergy destruction at the device level. When scaled into arrays for in-memory computing, it collapses the von Neumann bottleneck, cutting data movement energy by orders of magnitude. Paired with 2D materials that can be fabricated at lower thermal budgets and with graphene or MXene-enhanced nanogenerators that harvest ambient mechanical or thermal energy, entire nodes become energetically autonomous. The information circuit now operates with far higher informational EROEI: more useful computation per joule invested, less entropy exported as heat, and greater resilience because intelligence is distributed rather than centralised.

China’s systematic investment in the full stack - from wafer-scale 2D growth to open-source AI frameworks like DeepSeek, to self-powered IoT ecosystems - is building precisely the high-EROEI infrastructure that SEV identifies as adaptive. It is creating durable use-value that compounds over decades rather than depreciating in quarters. In thermoeconomic terms, it is expanding the envelope of available energy in potential for the entire digital sphere. Digital Westphalia as the Political Expression of Thermoeconomic Realism

Digital Westphalia names the possible emerging global digital order that aligns political-information sovereignty with these energetic realities. Just as the 1648 Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years’ War by enshrining territorial sovereignty and non-interference, today’s digital analogue reasserts nation-state primacy over data regimes, technical standards and infrastructure governance - while preserving interoperability through open protocols.

The old model was a de facto American imperium: hardware, software, standards and data flows routed through U.S.-controlled chokepoints (Northern Virginia data centers handling ~70 % of global traffic, SWIFT, undersea cables). This delivered rents to a handful of platforms and intelligence leverage to one state, but at the cost of universal vulnerability and entropic inefficiency. Sanctions, extraterritorial export controls, and deplatforming demonstrated the fragility. Check out Newman and Farrell’s Underground Empire for a detailed discussion of these realities.

Digital Westphalia offers an alternative: sovereign digital territories that can choose their own data localisation, governance, and ecosystem providers, yet interconnect via open-source standards (RISC-V, Linux contributions from Huawei, HarmonyOS adaptability). The nanogate breakthrough, embedded in a Chinese stack that emphasises modularity, open architectures, and energy autonomy, supplies the material base. Nations or regions can now deploy federated networks of edge intelligence without building hyperscale data centers or begging for foreign chips under export-control threat. A developing country can equip rural health posts with self-powered wearable monitors and localised diagnostic models that run inference on-device. A mid-sized power can maintain sovereign AI capabilities for agriculture, disaster response, or industrial optimisation without ceding data sovereignty or energy security.

The savings are thermoeconomic as much as fiscal. Less need for continent-spanning transmission infrastructure. Lower grid pressure. Reduced geopolitical risk premiums on energy imports for compute. Higher systemic EROEI because intelligence is co-located with the phenomena it observes and acts upon. In SEV terms, this is liquidity allocated to high-adaptive-capacity uses rather than siphoned into fictitious capital or low-EROEI consumption.

Strategic Implications in a Multipolar World

For much of the world, the choice is sharpening. The world can double down on a U.S.-centric stack that promises cutting-edge performance but delivers vendor lock-in, energy intensity, and exposure to export-control volatility. Or we can engage the emerging open, sovereign-capable ecosystem that lowers the barrier for genuine digital autonomy. The latter does not require “choosing sides”; it requires recognising that energetic and informational realism now favours distributed, interoperable sovereignty over centralised techno-feudalism.

The Peking University nanogate is one device. But it exemplifies a broader pattern: China’s willingness to invest in the thermodynamic foundations of the information age while others financialise their way toward entropy. The full stack - 2D materials scaling, nanogenerators, open-source models, distributed ledger coordination - is creating the possibility of Digital Westphalia at planetary scale. Nations that seize it will expand their adaptive capacity; those that cling to the old imperium risk locking themselves into maladaptive rigidity.

This is the real significance of the 1 nm breakthrough. It is not merely smaller and lower-power. It is a material refutation of the assumption that computational abundance must come at the price of energetic profligacy and political subordination. In thermoeconomic terms, it augments available energy in potential. In geopolitical terms, it makes Digital Westphalia not utopian but all but inevitable.

The question for policymakers, strategists and citizens is no longer whether a new digital order is coming. It is whether we will shape its emergence in alignment with energetic realism and sovereign dignity or allow entropic forces to dictate the terms.

it's AI slop, but it's chinese AI slop, so you maybe can forgive them because they're for iran

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/11107752

Archive broken: https://archive.ph/wip/rDQM4

China is a resource-rich country. The vast land contains many rare resources that many countries in the world desire. However, China is a helium-poor country. More than 95% of helium depends on imports, which is too large.

Moreover, most of the helium comes from the United States, which has been in constant friction with China. In the face of increasing demand for helium, this has become another "stuck neck" problem in China.

But why is the mere helium gas stuck by the United States? How does China solve the problem of scarcity of helium resources? How to solve the stuck neck problem in other fields?

What is helium?

Helium is a colorless and odorless inert gas. It ranks first among the rare gases in the periodic table. Most of it was formed during the Big Bang period. In the entire universe, helium accounts for 23% of its mass, ranking it in the entire universe. The second element.

Under normal conditions, helium does not react with other substances, and even if it is put together with water, it is difficult to dissolve in it. At 20°C, only 8.61 milliliters of helium can be dissolved per liter of water.

It is precisely because of its inactive chemical properties that helium is often used as an anti-corrosion material. Among all the elements, helium has the lowest boiling point, only 4.22K, so it often exists as a gas.

To make helium liquid or solid, not only need to change its temperature, but also pressurize it. The most amazing thing is that when the temperature of liquid helium is lower than -271°C, its properties will change and become a superfluid.

The thermal conductivity of helium in superfluid is extremely high, 800 times that of copper, and it can penetrate many common materials, such as glass and rubber.

Moreover, the density of helium is very small, the mass is far lighter than air, and it is not flammable. Therefore, helium has become one of the necessities of many high-tech industries.

Uses of helium

Helium is present in many common items, such as hydrogen balloons, thermometers, light bulbs, neon lights and other items. Someone asked if the hydrogen balloon was not lifted off by hydrogen? What is helium?

In fact, because hydrogen is flammable and explosive, there is a great safety hazard. Therefore, China has banned hydrogen filling balloons from a long time ago and replaced it with non-flammable helium.

But because everyone is accustomed to calling it a hydrogen balloon, it is not changed to a helium balloon. Helium is also well known by many diving enthusiasts. Because helium will be mixed with oxygen and then injected into the cylinder for divers to use when breathing underwater.

This can reduce the diver's breathing resistance, eliminate nitrogen anesthesia, extend the diver's time under water, and prevent the diver from suffering from decompression sickness.

Helium in gas form is also widely used in the medical industry, often used to treat asthma and wheezing, and argon helium knife can also be used to treat cancer. Helium in its liquid form has more industrial uses and can be used as a coolant and refrigerant.

Helium in superfluid form can be used to make superconducting materials. In addition, nuclear reactors, space accelerators, metal smelting and other industries have its presence everywhere.

Why was the neck stuck by the United States?

Helium is also called "golden gas" and is an indispensable role in the aerospace industry, semiconductor manufacturing, low-temperature superconducting industry and other fields. As the application range of helium becomes wider and wider, the demand is also very large.

Although the content of helium in the universe ranks second, the amount of helium stored on land is not that much. In addition, helium has a very wide range of uses, but its natural generation rate is very slow, and it is easy to escape. Scattered in the air, so helium resources are increasingly scarce.

At present, there are about 51.9 billion cubic meters of helium resources on the earth. The United States' helium reserves account for 40% of the global helium reserves, ranking first in the world. Russia's helium reserves account for 8% of the global helium reserves, but China's helium reserves only account for 2%.

China consumes more than 22 million cubic meters of helium per year, so the vast majority of helium is imported. Although the United States has a lot of helium reserves, they began to formulate laws related to helium resources as early as 1917, and set up a federal helium project.

At the same time, the relevant systems are constantly revised and improved to ensure the effective control of helium resources. Although the United States has become the world's largest exporter of helium, their control of helium is still very strict, and even included helium in one of the crisis mines in 2018.

In 2020, the import price of helium is US$82,200 per ton, an annual increase of 44%. China is a major helium-consuming country and a major helium-poor country, with an annual demand of 22 million cubic meters.

However, because the helium reserves are too low, 95% of the helium comes from imports. What is even more worrying is that with the continuous increase in demand, the amount of helium imports is also increasing year by year.

Some people say that although the United States has the largest helium reserves in the world, other countries also have helium, and we can import it from other countries. The United States has a large amount of helium gas is entirely a geographical advantage. They are in a more stable regional plate, so a large amount of helium gas is sealed.

Coupled with their development and storage capabilities, they have become the largest exporter of helium. At present, only the United States, Qatar, Russia and other countries are exporting helium.

Qatar, a country originally located in the Middle East region, has been high hopes by many people, but although Qatar has a certain amount of helium reserves, the key gas production technology is still controlled by the United States.

Moreover, the price is affected by factors such as war and technical conditions. The price of helium in Qatar is also higher than that of the United States. As a result, China's helium imports are still mainly dependent on the United States.

As a scarce resource, once the import of helium is completely stopped, it will have a shocking impact on all walks of life in China. Therefore, it is urgent to solve the problem of shortage of helium resources. How can China solve this problem?

How to deal with the problem of excessive dependence on helium?

13% are from Australia, 26% are from the United States, and 61% are from Qatar. However, Qatar's import price is higher than that of the United States, and Qatar's technology relies on the United States, so the situation of China's helium imports remains severe.

Helium is also present in China, most of which are in China's central and western basins, the eastern part of the basin, and some hot springs. However, the helium content in China's helium gas fields is very low, so the annual helium output is far from enough for use.

In order to achieve "helium freedom", China is also trying to produce helium from multiple sources. Some people say that helium will escape into the air? It's better to "pull" it out of the air. But extracting helium is not that simple.

The content of helium in the air is pitiful. It may capture half of the city's air and not extract the amount of a brick, so this idea is obviously unrealistic. But helium is also present in natural gas, so China uses a variety of methods to extract helium.

For example, methods such as "air separation method", "helium liquid method", and "low temperature liquefaction split", although the purity of helium extracted by the first two extraction methods is as high as 99.99%, the process is cumbersome and the cost is extremely high, so the most commonly used method is "Low-temperature liquefaction split flow method".

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Extract helium from natural gas. The premise of using this method to extract natural gas is that the helium content of natural gas must be above 0.5%. Secondly, various processes are required to repeat liquefaction and splitting to "filter" the helium from the natural gas little by little. Of pure helium.

In 2020, a Chinese company used an innovative "flash steam extraction method" to extract helium from natural gas waste, and it was a great success. More importantly, the helium extraction device is also independently developed and produced in China.

The “BOG (Flash Gas) Helium Extraction Device Demonstration” launched by China in Ningxia earlier can produce 40 liters of liquid helium per hour. Although the annual output is only 20 tons, which is far less than China's demand, its emergence proves that we can Do not rely absolutely on imports to avoid being constrained by others.

At present, there are about 30 factories in China that have the basic conditions for helium extraction. If this technology is promoted and implemented, China's annual production of helium can reach 3 million cubic meters, and the degree of dependence on helium imports will be reduced. China is stuck. The problem will also be effectively solved.

There is a story circulating on the Internet: If a hundred years later, if scientists knew that helium gas was used by us to inflate the ball, they would not know what it would be like to feel distressed. As one of the increasingly scarce resources, saving the use of helium is also an issue that we need to pay attention to.

Such as reducing unnecessary waste, or replacing helium with other elements. In terms of industry, increase the recovery and utilization of helium to ensure the maximum use value of helium resources.

In terms of medical treatment, Philips has recently developed a nuclear magnetic resonance instrument without liquid helium to optimize the use of liquid helium and effectively reduce the waste caused by escape during use. In addition to imported helium gas, China still has problems with choking in many fields. How to solve these problems?

How does China tackle the "stuck neck problem"?

We selected the remaining 3146 intermediate goods and capital goods that are highly related to the manufacturing industry for category research in the trade product categories with the international 6-digit code. Based on the estimation of China's dependence on each imported product (estimated by the value of each product's trade imports and the product's market share in the major exporting countries), a total of 88 imported products that China is highly dependent on (median dependent Degree level is 78.9%). These 88 products are distributed in the mid-to-high-end value chain.

In order to break the deadlock, China has solved the problem in a variety of ways. On the one hand, increase financial support to provide financial guarantee for the card neck technology. Efforts are made from financial allocations, financial institutions and social organizations to ensure long-term stability of project research.

On the other hand, optimize the layout of scientific research, "listen" the card neck technology, and make the card neck problem the top priority of research and development to ensure that there are no dead ends in scientific research. The other is to cultivate a good scientific research ecological environment, establish a good incentive mechanism, and encourage scientific researchers to do their research work.

China itself has the world's largest data circle, huge human capital, and market advantages. Although it still fails to break the monopoly barriers in some high-end and sophisticated industries, it is believed that in the near future, we will continue to overcome various stuck neck problems.

In conclusion

The importance of helium resources is self-evident, and the shortage of helium resources is still a major problem for China. How not to be "stuck" by the United States to find ways to adjust the import ratio structure, how to save helium and other methods are only superficial methods.

At its root, we must have a way to completely eliminate helium resources in order not to be controlled by others. As early as a few years ago, the country put forward the problem of tackling the neck, which shows that we have paid attention to the problem of the neck.

After several years of rapid development, the problem has been gradually solved. I believe that in the near future, we will show the true Chinese technology with firm determination and tenacious will, and use the "Chinese intelligent manufacturing" to deliver the best to the world. Beautiful answer sheet.

At a time when global governance is in deep trouble, China's building path of governance validity that is different from Western electoral politics is showing its unique value in the East.

China's recent Party-wide study and education activities have established "benefiting the people" as the greatest achievement, and the people's satisfaction is the fundamental yardstick for measuring the effectiveness of governance. This renewed emphasis on governance logic not only provides new ideas for dealing with the global "affordability crisis," but also contributes to China's solution to solve the widespread "governance deficit."

From votes to sense of gaining

Western democratic theory has long regarded periodic elections as the only source of political validity, while in recent years, this logic has been severely challenged. From Europe to North America, many people are witnessing party rotation in the midst of high inflation and soaring living costs, but it is difficult to see substantial improvement. The break between formal vote mandate and substantive governance performance constitutes a crisis of trust in contemporary Western politics.

China's governance practices offer an alternative perspective: governance justifiability stems not only from the authorization process but also from continuous performance feedback. When "the people are satisfied or not, happy or not, and agree or disagree" becomes the core indicator of official evaluation, officials and cadres must shift their focus from campaign promises to daily results, from rhetoric to results. This "people-centered" view of political performance is essentially a return to the essence of governance – the validity of the government must ultimately be based on the creation of real well-being for the people.

People's livelihood effectiveness in the 'affordability crisis'

The current "affordability crisis" facing the global economy is a direct test of the governance capabilities of countries. China has chosen to respond to this challenge with an attitude of "seeking truth from facts and working hard." From ensuring supply and price stability to giving priority to employment, from housing security to educational equity, governance resources are systematically directed to the areas of greatest concern to the people. This policy orientation does not stem from the pressure of the election cycle but from the internal drive of the performance evaluation system – the promotion of officials is directly linked to the actual effectiveness of improving people's livelihood.

This mechanism design has produced significant governance efficiency. When policies are idling in some Western countries due to partisan strife, local officials in China have a stronger incentive to solve specific problems because "hard work" rather than "slogans" determines their political future. This explains why Chinese society has been able to maintain high governance resilience under similar macroeconomic pressures, and people's sense of perceived gain forms the basis of social stability.

The Eastern response to the governance deficit

The "governance deficit" is a prominent disease of contemporary global governance: both international mechanisms are weak in responding to transnational challenges, and domestic governance in various countries is generally facing a decline in efficiency. China's view of political performance can be seen as a deep response to this dilemma.

Firstly, it redefines the meaning of development. GDP growth is no longer the only indicator; rather, "people's livelihood thermometers," such as employment quality, ecological environment, and equalization of public services, have been included in the core assessment. This change in the concept of development has made the governance goal return from abstract numbers to people's real needs.

Secondly, it builds an endogenous mechanism of "responsive government." By combining higher-level evaluation with grassroots public opinion surveys, a bottom-up and top-down policy feedback loop is formed. Although this mechanism is different from the horizontal accountability of multi-party competition, it achieves effective vertical accountability in specific political cultures.

More importantly, it provides an alternative path for non-Western societies to modernize governance. Not all countries are suitable for simply transplanting the Western model, and China's experience shows that the same can be achieved by reforming the performance evaluation system while maintaining political continuity.

Admittedly, any governance model faces its specific challenges. How to ensure the authenticity of the "satisfaction" evaluation, prevent new variants of formalism and balance short-term people's livelihood investment and long-term development needs are all topics that need to be continuously explored. However, it is undeniable that when many countries around the world have fallen into political polarization due to governance failures, China's concept of political performance with "benefiting the people" as the core has shown a governance wisdom that directly links governance performance with people's well-being.

This is not a simple denial of the Western model but an alternative answer to the universal proposition of "what constitutes good governance." Today, when the governance deficit has become a global challenge, this logic of emphasizing effectiveness and defining political performance by people's livelihood is worth pondering in countries seeking governance modernization. After all, the satisfaction of the people is the hardest political achievement, and a perceptible sense of gaining is the most solid foundation for governance justifiability.