The Future of Innovation and Invention after DeepSeek

The shocking wake-up call to Western tech giants by DeepSeek from China in early 2025, together with other Chinese mind-blowing technological breakthroughs in recent years (like EVs, wind power, solar power, nuclear fission, nuclear fusion, quantum computing, bio-tech, chip manufacturing, high-speed trains, commercial aerospace, spacecrafts, 6G telecommunication, 6th-generation fighter jets, AT, robotics, etc.), is a reality check on 3 myths of innovation and invention in liberal democracy under capitalism so often glorified in Western mainstream mass media. This is all the more so, if put in the historical context of the 2nd Cold War between the U.S. and China (which was already predicted in my 2020 article titled "Why the Coronavirus Pandemic is Accelerating the Remaking of World Order in the 2nd Cold War").

Photo: Flickr by Ecole polytechnique, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

AI

Myth #1: Copyright is Essential for Innovation and Invention

The first myth has to do with the dogmatic ideological belief in the West that copyright is essential for innovation and invention, which liberal democracy (especially under capitalism), so the myth says, does better than other systems because of its individualist culture for original ideas (with monetary rewards in the market place).

Contrary to this myth, what DeepSeek has shown is that cooperation in collectivist culture can do better in innovation and invention than the much glorified individualist culture in Western liberal democracy, because DeepSeek is able to come up with an AI model known as the "R1 large language model" (based on "open source," not "copyright"), which can be trained for only US$6 million, as opposed to US$100 million for OpenAI's GPT-4 (in the U.S.), and uses only one tenth of the computational power in Meta's LLAMA 3.1 model (in the U.S.).

Instead of being obsessed with copyright protection which only benefits those who can pay for copyright royalties, DeepSeek opts for "open source," which is free for anyone to download for different applications and which also allows anyone to modify the model for improvement online without payment.

An individualist culture in liberal democracy (compounded with the greed for copyright royalties in capitalism) often shuns "open source," because it does not generate financial gains for those who come up with new ideas. In other words, copyright does not share originality (freely), but open source does (without payment).

Myth #2: DEI are Good for Innovation and Invention

The second myth has to do with the dogmatic ideological belief in the West that DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) are good for innovation and invention, which liberal democracy, so the myth says, does better than other systems because of its individualist culture for human rights and social justice.

Contrary to this myth, what DeepSeek has shown is that a collectivist culture which does not waste time and resources on culture war (like "cancel culture" and "woke culture") and focuses instead on R&D (especially in STEM fields of study) for technological development can do better than the alternative individualist culture which has to satisfy different individualistic demands from workers with LGBTQ concerns, feminist agenda, affirmative action entitlements, and extremist appeals in the workplace (which often drive up costs and disrupt or cancel "politically incorrect" projects).

More specifically, DeepSeek has shown that it is able to come up with an AI model which can run faster and consume less energy, at a fraction of the cost, which workers with LGBTQ concerns, feminist agenda, affirmative action entitlements, and extremist appeals in the workplace find it hard to beat in open competition.

Besides DeepSeek, another illustrative example in AI concerns Daniel Povey, a well-known pioneer in speech recognition technology (especially for language learning in AI), who used to work for IBM and Microsoft but was later terminated by Johns Hopkins University in 2019 over his disagreement with sit-in protests by students (over the political correctness on "campus militarization") which discontinued his lab work. Out of frustration with excessive political correctness in the U.S., Povey then accepted a research job offer by Xiaomi in China and helped the latter's path-breaking development in AI in recent years (despite U.S. restrictions). This is by no means an isolated case, as more and more foreign talents are flooding the Chinese technological landscape (as already elaborated in my 2022 article titled "The Closing of the Western Mind in the 2nd Cold War"), partly due to their frustration with political correctness back home in the West and partly due to their attraction to new opportunities in a rising China as the largest economy on Earth (surpassing the U.S. economy since 2014, as measured by GDP in purchasing power parity, according to the World Bank and the IMF).

Myth #3: Populist Protectionism is Great for Innovation and Invention

The third myth has to do with the dogmatic ideological belief in the West that populist protectionism (like tariffs and sanctions) is great for innovation and invention, which liberal democracy (especially under capitalism), so the myth says, does better than other systems because of its individualist culture for ruthless dominance (like Trump's "Make America Great Again" in a much glorified "It is my way or the highway" or "Me First" world).

Sam Altman, borrowing the idea of "competition is for losers" from his mentor Peter Thiel, is the CEO of OpenAI in the U.S. and has advocated the business strategy for a company to dominate its market by monopoly (and thereby to eliminate competition). When Trump returned to the White House in 2025, Altman was quick to partner with Trump for the US$500 billion "Stargate" initiative and supported Trump's policies on tariffs and sanctions against foreign competitors.

Contrary to this myth, what DeepSeek has shown is that a collectivist culture can thrive with "open source," regardless of tariffs and sanctions from its competitors (like the U.S. under Trump's "Make America Great Again" policy since his 1st term starting in 2017).

Even before DeepSeek, Huawei had already shown that it has survived a series of tough sanctions and tariffs since Trump's first term (and then Biden's succession) and has become stronger ever since, as it now regains its smartphone business (with its Mate 60 series, while Apple lost its No.1 spot and fell to 3rd place in smartphone sales in 2024), develops its own operating system (like its HarmonyOS NEXT, as a complete Android replacement after U.S. restrictions, which has led to Android's decline in market share), and makes its own chips (like its domestically fabricated Kirin 9000s, after U.S. restrictions) with unexpected path-breaking innovations (despite all these tariffs and sanctions from the U.S.). In this breathtaking way, Huawei's 2024 revenue skyrocketed to an all-time high of US$118 billion, contrary to its eventual collapse that Trump and Biden so much wished for with endless tariffs and sanctions on Huawei (and others in China) in past years (while self-destructively accelerating the decline of U.S. companies like Apple for iphones and Google for Android in market shares, instead of making them great again, ironically thanks to Trump's "Make America Great Again" policy).

Conclusion: The Future of Innovation and Invention after DeepSeek

These 3 myths of innovation and invention in liberal democracy under capitalism so often glorified in Western mainstream mass media in our time are not exhaustive but solely illustrative, but they serve the purpose to show why and how much the West has consistently under-estimated China's technological prowess as the alternative superpower with different values and beliefs (as already predicted in my 1995 doctoral dissertation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or M. I.T., which was later published in 2 volumes titled "The Future of Human Civilization" in 1999). This visionary idea of the "Asian century" was further elaborated in my 2007 book titled "Beyond the World of Titans, and the Remaking of World Order," which includes India as the coming rival with China as the 2 "hyper empires" on Earth in the third Cold War (or "Cold War 3.0"), with the U.S. and the EU as the "meso-empires" in the 2nd tier of this new world order.

In this visionary light, these 3 myths will live ephemerally in the current 2nd Cold War between the U.S. and China (which was untimely predicted in my 2020 essay titled "Why the Coronavirus Pandemic is Accelerating the Remaking of World Order in the 2nd Cold War" and was further elaborated in my 2022 article titled "The Closing of the Western Mind in the 2nd Cold War" and in my 2023 article titled "De-Globalization and De-Dollarization in the 2nd Cold War").

Therefore, the current "Cold War 2.0" between the U.S. and China (which refers to the historical succession to "Cold War 1.0" between the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. in the second half of the 20th century) will be superseded by "Cold War 3.0" between China and India in the nascent Asian century (as already analyzed in my 2007 book titled "Beyond the World of Titans, and the Remaking of World Order" and further elaborated in my 2023 article titled "The Future of Pan-Asianism in the Asian Century (and Beyond)" and in my 2024 article titled "The U.S. Strategic Miscalculation with India in the 2nd Cold War").

In other words, these 3 myths have blinded the West from recognizing the steady rise of collectivist culture in the world to challenge the individualist ethos of Western dominance, ultimately for a new lifeworld beyond both individualism and collectivism in the end, with "post-democracy" (as already predicted in my 2002 book titled "The Future of Capitalism and Democracy" and my 2004 2-volume work titled "Beyond Democracy to Post-Democracy") and "post-capitalism" (as already predicted in my 2002 book titled "The Future of Capitalism and Democracy" and my 2005 book titled "Beyond Capitalism to Post-Capitalism") in a "post-civilizational" world (as already predicted in my 2005 book titled "Beyond Civilization to Post-Civilization").

The world of innovation and invention (as elaborated in my 2009 book titled "The Future of Post-Human Creative Thinking: A Preface to a New Theory of Invention and Innovation") in the coming "Asian century" will look much different from what has been accepted as "normal" in the past centuries of Western dominance. It will take some time (especially for those in the West) to accept and get used to this new world order of innovation and invention as the "new normal" never seen before in human history since the rise of the modern West.

About the author:

Dr. Peter Baofu is an American visionary and author of 180 scholarly books and numerous articles (as of July, 2023) to provide 150 visions (theories) of the human future in relation to the mind, nature, society, and culture -- and had been in 157 countries around the world (as of October, 2024) for his global research on humanity, besides knowing 10 languages with different degrees of fluency. His books are listed in top university libraries and national libraries around the world (including the Library of Congress in Washington, D. C.). He was interviewed on television and radio as well as by newspapers around the world about his original ideas and visions of the human future (search for "Peter Baofu" on YouTube, or go directly to his official YouTube (podcast) channel <https://www.youtube.com/@Dr.PeterBaofuOfficial>). He was a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in the Far East and had taught as a professor at different universities in Western Europe, the Caucasus, the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, South Asia, North America, and Southeast Asia. He received more than 5 academic degrees, including a Ph. D. from the world-renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), was a summa cum laude graduate, and was awarded the Delta Sigma Pi Scholarship Key for being at the top of the class in the College of Business Administration, with another student.

Details

DeepSeek is a chatbot created by the Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek. Released on 10 January, DeepSeek-R1 surpassed ChatGPT as the most downloaded freeware app on the iOS App Store in the United States by 27 January. DeepSeek's success against larger and more established rivals has been described as "upending AI" and initiating "a global AI space race". DeepSeek's compliance with Chinese government censorship policies and its data collection practices have also raised concerns over privacy and information control in the model, prompting regulatory scrutiny in multiple countries.