this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2025
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A Princeton nuclear physicist. A mechanical engineer who helped NASA explore manufacturing in space. A US National Institutes of Health neurobiologist. Celebrated mathematicians. And over half a dozen AI experts. The list of research talent leaving the US to work in China is glittering – and growing.

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[–] whiwake@lemmy.cafe 15 points 1 month ago (4 children)

I mean… it’s not exactly an upgrade.

[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 33 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (5 children)

I don't know. China is smart enough to realize that a country needs science and scientists should be enabled to do science. There will be censorship in some areas, but there's not a government that's just hostile to science in general and trying to shut it down because of some idiotically regressive dogma, as in the USA. Going to a country that considers it a good thing, and worth investing in, to lead the world in science would be an upgrade.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 20 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

That's right. It's an upgrade by virtue of supplying the material means to do large amounts of science. To provide the education people need, give them labs, tools and materials to work with. All of us would benefit from those scientific discoveries.

[–] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Do they get to bypass the "great firewall"?

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I don't think that's necessarily the case, but either way the firewall isn't impregnable if you put your mind to it.

[–] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

How do you get through the American firewall that blocks American access to sites the government doesn't like?

[–] nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

VPNs. You do know that that's a real thing people of multiple states need to do to access pornographic material and circumvent age restriction tech right?

[–] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Clearly I'm being to subtle...

Sorry, when it comes to China stuff I can never be to sure, people get very tribal about it

[–] sadfitzy@ttrpg.network -3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

There will be censorship in some areas, but there’s not a government that’s just hostile to science in general and trying to shut it down because of some idiotically regressive dogma, as in the USA.

You are actually stupid if you think scientists will have more freedom in China than the US.

[–] frustrated@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

I suppose it really depends on what freedoms you consider important and how much you weigh things. It is true, in china, you cant be openly critical of the regime. FWIW, that is increasingly true in the US.

However, in china, you are free to not be killed by violence. You are free to get affordable healthcare. You are free to get affordable high quality food. You are free to get affordable housing (outside of Beijing and a few other financial centers). You are free to get an affordable high quality education. I dunno. There are tradeoffs. The US is increasingly offering less and less by way of substantive freedoms and is becoming more and more authoritarian.

Also, have you actually been to china? How much of what you know about china is based in outdated information from 30 years ago or might just be straight up propaganda? I have been in the last 10 years and it blew my mind and changed a lot about how viewed the country.

[–] RenLinwood@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The scientists clearly disagree, and they'd definitely know better than you would

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[–] shani66@ani.social 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Kinda is. America is on its way to being as authoritarian as China, just with a Christian bent, which is so much worse.

[–] whiwake@lemmy.cafe 10 points 1 month ago

So much worse than being jailed for talking about democracy? At least in the United States we can all run to a blue state… For now. However, I am curious to see if Trump does anything with his super special banned words.

[–] sadfitzy@ttrpg.network -3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Not really.

China doesn't protect freedom of speech. They don't even allow citizens to own their houses.

[–] shani66@ani.social 6 points 1 month ago (14 children)

America doesn't protect freedom of speech already, and we're not even a full year into our fascist takeover

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[–] RenLinwood@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Anything's possible when you make shit up

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 11 points 1 month ago (2 children)

In terms of getting to do science without harassment, it absolutely is. Now I wouldn't go myself because I'm basically allergic to authoritarianism, but if I was another "I just wanna make rockets" guy it'd be a pretty tempting offer.

[–] whiwake@lemmy.cafe 8 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Ummm… In China, prohibited or heavily restricted areas of research include democracy, human rights, Tibet, Xinjiang, Taiwan, Tiananmen, criticism of the Communist Party, censorship circumvention tools, human reproductive cloning, genetic modification of human embryos for reproduction, stem cell work beyond 14 days of embryo development, unapproved clinical stem cell applications, organ transplantation outside regulated systems, unauthorized cryptography, dual-use or national-security technologies, nuclear technology, unrestricted sharing of genomic or health data, foreign collaboration on sensitive datasets, and archaeological or historical research that challenges official state narratives.

[–] corvalanlara@eviltoast.org 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Have you ever read the list of words you can’t use when applying for grants in the US? Here’s the list: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2025/03/15/these-197-terms-may-trigger-reviews-of-your-nih-nsf-grant-proposals/

Imagine not being able to make research just because it focuses in the wrong topics according to the current government, topics like females, the climate crisis, mental health, racism and inequality.

[–] Nasan@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 month ago

The Gulf of Mexico being in there is the icing on the cake of some people in this world are too fucking stupid and toxic to be trusted in any kind of position where they'll have influence over other people's lives.

[–] whiwake@lemmy.cafe 1 points 1 month ago

What was that list in 2021? 😂

[–] RenLinwood@lemmy.blahaj.zone -1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Anything's possible when you make shit up

[–] whiwake@lemmy.cafe 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Saying something is made up doesn’t mean it’s made up

[–] RenLinwood@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Lol no but the complete absence of substantiating evidence does

[–] whiwake@lemmy.cafe 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Prove me wrong by finding examples of each. If you don’t then you have no evidence.

[–] RenLinwood@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 month ago

Do some reading about the terms "burden of proof" and/or "proving a negative", then go stand in a corner and feel ashamed of yourself

[–] sadfitzy@ttrpg.network -1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You are actually stupid if you think scientists will have more freedom in China than the US.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Who the heck said anything about freedom?

[–] RenLinwood@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If it wasn't an upgrade they wouldn't be successfully recruiting well-educated expats

[–] whiwake@lemmy.cafe 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Plenty of people made shitty choices. The moment they try to talk openly, they will regret it.

[–] RenLinwood@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 1 month ago

You sound confident for someone with absolutely no basis for your assertions