China: Life in the Cloud
International Programs in Sustainable Developments
In no country in the world digitalization – using big data, artificial intelligence or Industry 4.0 – is as advanced as in China. It now encompasses all areas of life: communication, education, media, entertainment, medicine, trade, and industry. The downside of this technological penetration is a ubiquitous surveillance, social control, and censorship.
The lecture explains the political motivations and strategies driving digitalization and describes who the key players are and how politics and industry interact. It also gives an insight into everyday “life in the cloud”, which is dominated by a few super apps for cell phones, and shows how censorship and surveillance are increasingly curtailing freedom of thought and expression.
Ingrid Fischer-Schreiber studied French and Italian at the Institute for Translator and Interpreter Training, and Sinology at the Institute for Sinology, both at the University of Vienna, as well as Sinology in Beijing between 1980 and 1982. Since 1985 she has been a freelance translator, writer, editor, and cultural project manager. From 2009 to 2015 Ingrid lived and worked in Beijing and Shanghai.