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America Must Innovate or Die

America is in decline. Since the end of the Cold War—thanks to the fecklessness of our political and business leaders—every single competitive advantage that the United States enjoyed has been methodically eroded by our competitors.

In the economic realm, America’s elite convinced themselves it would be acceptable essentially to redistribute wealth and middle class jobs to China and India. They promised us that in exchange for shedding antedated “old economy” jobs, we would be getting high-paying, “knowledge economy” jobs in return.  Anyone living in the United States outside of the wealthy coastal enclaves knows this was a false promise.

Now even those enclaves are at risk. According to latest global tech innovation survey from the global consulting firm KPMG, China is “now closing the gap with the United States in leading the development of disruptive technology breakthroughs.” The global consulting firm interviewed 841 of the world’s leading tech executives, who also believe that Shanghai is the “city that will rival San Francisco, along with California’s Silicon Valley, as the world’s leading innovation hub over the next four years.”

The reason?

As the United States has embraced fads and adopted mediocre academic standards across the board, the Chinese have forced their people to study the technical and math-related fields that are vital for dominating the global knowledge economy.

China has also fed their young people a hefty helping of  “wolf’s milk”—that is, nationalism and the politics of historical grievance against the West. This, in turn, has created a fiery patriotism that now drives the Chinese people to innovate. In the United States, meanwhile, our kids are taught stifling lessons in political correctness and moral relativism. Patriotism, meanwhile, is out of fashion among the elites in education, entertainment, and industry. Is anyone surprised that KPMG’s survey indicates that China is taking the lead in technological innovation?

At the same time, America’s once-robust investment into research and development has declined precipitously just as China’s investments into new technologies has exploded.

This has profound economic and national security implications for the United States.

We soothed ourselves at the start of the millennium that our innovators were and always would be the greatest in the world. Our technological superiority was backed by overwhelming military dominance. For a period of time, America enjoyed a “unipolar moment.” We were Colossus bestriding the world. No one dared challenge us.

But by 2003, those days were numbered. Not only had America made itself vulnerable to China’s unremitting economic warfare, but the U.S. had been left to bleed in the Middle East. With the 2008 Great Recession, the West’s once-unquestionable economic dominance became highly questionable, empowering the East. Now, all of the trends are working against the West and in favor of the East, with China leading the way.

In 2008, China invested heavily in the Quantum Internet. This is an instantaneous, un-hackable, truly disruptive communications system. It relies on string theory to manipulate particles at the subatomic level across vast distances. The Chinese use this as a means of transmitting large volumes of virtually un-hackable data at instantaneous speeds. From this discovery, also, the Chinese have created an entire ecosystem of quantum-based computer technologies, such as the quantum radar, which can detect any American stealth plane from afar (such as the hugely expensive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter). Most experts in the West argued that the quantum internet could not work. The Chinese poured billions into the project anyway.

Last month, China’s Micius Quantum Internet Satellite passed its first live test. It works. The experts were wrong—again. Western companies are lagging behind, too skittish to make the large upfront investments into the technology.

In today’s world, you innovate or die. It would seem many Western corporations have chosen death. After the successful proof of concept, China doubled its investment and plans to streamline the new technology and mass produce it.

Keep in mind that since the telecommunications revolution in the 1940s, the United States has enjoyed a silent lead over all other countries in the national security realm. The National Security Agency, which is America’s most technologically advanced spy agency, has had unprecedented levels of access to information since its inception in 1952. Signals intelligence has proven decisive over the years. In fact, we are so good at acquiring electronic intelligence that we often don’t have enough analysts to process all the data!

It’s a commonplace that the internet has revolutionized the world. But Americans may not appreciate the extent to which the United States was responsible for making that revolution happen. Thanks to this, American intelligence agencies had an historic strategic advantage over other states.

Imagine the implications behind China mastering and disseminating this “killer app” to a world grown weary of U.S. dominance. This yet another sign of America’s decline. Our military is overstretched and underprepared; our economy is plodding along at 2.6 percent growth rates; and our political system is completely broken.

Innovate or die is no longer just a slogan reserved for Silicon Valley—it applies to us all. Right now, America is choosing death.

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About Brandon J. Weichert

A 19FortyFive Senior Editor, Brandon J. Weichert is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, as well as at American Greatness and the Asia Times. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower (Republic Book Publishers), Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life (May 16), and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy (July 23). Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.href="https://twitter.com/WeTheBrandon">@WeTheBrandon.