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Opinion | We shouldn’t listen to tech entrepreneurs on anything but technology

Opinion | We shouldn’t listen to tech entrepreneurs on anything but technology

In today’s noisy artificial intelligence marketplace, Adam Lashinsky’s query in his July 18 op-ed, “Why are we listening to tech moguls like Musk?,” resonated loudly. Why do we listen to only the loudest voices when some of the quieter voices might be echoing a truth we need to hear? Opinions are not truths, no matter who speaks them. And truths are only one component of wisdom, no matter their source.

Sorting out AI’s challenges and complexities must not be left only to those with the loudest voices. Tech giants whose profit motives encourage the rapid development of products and who sometimes ignore ethical standards are part of our world. There are other, quieter voices that also need to be heard, those for whom ethical responsibilities loom large. Their AI applications, although less well-known, might be equally important.

Take the recent spate of lawsuits against Big

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Amid US tech war, is China stuck in a middle-technology trap? Is it time to open its doors wider?

Amid US tech war, is China stuck in a middle-technology trap? Is it time to open its doors wider?

China’s top science academy has warned of a potential “middle-technology trap”, with the leading analyst who published the concept calling for the country to “open its doors” to avoid becoming stuck at a key stage needed to fuel sustainable economic growth through innovation.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences report in early December came at a delicate time when the United States has stepped up technology curbs, while Chinese manufacturers are finding it increasingly difficult to move up value chains.

“The countries that develop later usually have difficulties in industrial upgrading and transitioning to high-income countries because they lack original technological advances after technology importation, imitation, absorption, and tracking,” the report said.

The “middle-technology trap” describes a scenario in which developing countries benefit from industrial transfers due to their low-cost advantages, but face long-term economic stagnation when the advantages diminish, and local firms struggle to catch up with the core technologies

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The tech products you shouldn’t buy or gift — even on Black Friday

The tech products you shouldn’t buy or gift — even on Black Friday

This article is a preview of The Tech Friend newsletter. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Tuesday and Friday.

During this Black Friday week, you’ll see pitches to BUY THIS AMAZING STUFF.

While experts may recommend the best products for everyone, we are all unique. A product that I love might be one that you hate.

So my colleagues and I are sharing five tech (-ish) purchases that we regretted. It’s a subjective guide to products you should not buy.

They include a keyboard tray that broke three times, a pair of wireless headphones that never fit right and pet technology that failed to help a dog “speak” to its human friend.

Our regrets show that even journalists who question everything can be swayed by what’s popular or what can seem too good to be

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Quarterly Investment Guide Q4 2023: Tech stock outlook

Quarterly Investment Guide Q4 2023: Tech stock outlook

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A new Silicon Valley manifesto reveals the bleak, dangerous philosophy driving the tech industry

A new Silicon Valley manifesto reveals the bleak, dangerous philosophy driving the tech industry

In 1993, Marc Andreessen was an undergraduate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he also worked at the US-government funded National Center for Supercomputing Applications. With a colleague, the young software engineer authored the Mosaic web browser, which set the standard for cruising the information superhighway in the 1990s.

Andreessen went on to cofound Netscape Communications, making a fortune in 1999 when the company was acquired by AOL for US$4.3 billion.

Since then, through his venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, the outspoken billionaire has become one of the most influential wallets in Silicon Valley. His investments – in companies including Facebook, Foursquare, Github, Lyft, Oculus and Twitter – have definitively shaped tech over the past 15 years. (He once described his approach as “funding imperial, will-to-power people”.)

Because of all this, it’s worth paying attention to Andreessen’s recent “techno-optimist manifesto”. Opening with the

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