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Omni College Plus Up to October 2019

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nanotechnology can also be used <strong>to</strong> ‘light-weight’ the metal in cars, trains, and boats, making<br />

them more fuel-efficient, while also making them more durable, making them safer.<br />

In the preface <strong>to</strong> The Synthetic Age, Pres<strong>to</strong>n writes that we are now living in the<br />

Anthopocene: the age in which the world is defined by humankind’s effects on it. He very much<br />

seems <strong>to</strong> be right about this, as we’ve seen, and it does matter—not just for us, but, thanks <strong>to</strong> the<br />

likely future benefits of nanotechnology, the world itself. That said, Pres<strong>to</strong>n mischaracterizes<br />

nanotechnology. He represents it as being nothing more than another technological advancement,<br />

albeit an unusually powerful one. But nanotechnology is not just more of the same; for whereas<br />

all pre-existing technologies have increased our environmental footprint, nanotechnology will<br />

give us the ability <strong>to</strong> shrink it.<br />

Totalitarianism by Proxy<br />

Big Tech as Government Proxy<br />

J.-M. Kuczynski<br />

WeChat is the Chinese equivalent of WhatsApp. But there is an important difference:<br />

unlike WhatsApp, WeChat censors its users. WeChat prevents the transmission of messages that<br />

it considers ‘politically sensitive.’ The results of this censorship are far-reaching---and almost<br />

entirely unknown outside of Mainland China. It behooves anyone attempting <strong>to</strong> do business in<br />

China or with Chinese nationals <strong>to</strong> understand WeChat, since the way this app works gives one<br />

an unusually clear perspective on the ways in which China’s economic and political systems

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