Manifold China, Acceleration, and Nick Land - with Matt Southey – #108
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Mar 26, 2026 Matt Southey, a philosopher and AI-safety editor who wrote a PhD on Nick Land, joins to unpack accelerationism and Land’s intellectual arc. They discuss travels in China, robotics and frontier AI work, meeting Nick Land in Shanghai, Land’s esoteric numeric practices, simulation metaphysics, and the split between Landian and Marxist accelerationist views.
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China Has Much Less Objection To Embryo Selection
- Chinese attendees responded far more positively to embryo selection and genomics than U.S. audiences, seeing fewer historical/ethical taboos.
- Steve attributes this to different historical memory and a stronger cultural anchoring in technology-driven improvement.
China Will Push On Device Frontier Agents Faster
- Steve found Chinese researchers and companies more pro-deployment: phone agents, on-device LLMs, and integrated handset-AI projects are advancing rapidly.
- Example: a ZTE-ByteDance phone prototype runs a local Doobao model with agent permissions and security teams reviewing constraints.
Industrial Maximalism Is Now China's Official Strategy
- Chinese policy embraces "industrial maximalism" as a five-year-plan development model prioritizing large-scale industrial and technological advancement.
- Steve notes many mainland interlocutors fully back this strategy as the country's path forward.
