華爾街日報與墨子：誠心還是酸？

中國的墨子量子衛星，不僅僅在中國是件大事，在全世界也是大事，因為是世界第一次。報道多了，這是一些例子：

 

中國發射全球首顆量子科學衛星“墨子號”將驗證量子力學理論

鐵流：中國發射“墨子”，外國專家如何評價

 

所以外媒評論是必然的，風格語言含義各有特色，《英國廣播公司》的就較枯燥，出了科普，就一句話，中國發衛星，就是錢。

 

英國自己沒戲，沒啥好說的，美國就不一樣了。見到《華爾街日報》一文，覺得標題超了通常不帶感情的客觀報道程度。

 

《華爾街日報》的標題是“中國最新的躍進不隻是個大躍進，還是個量子躍進”。中國人都知道這典故，自然知道這標題是特選的。承認這是個“量子躍進”就是老老實實意識到這結果的重大意義和中國實力的代表性。

 

中國首次躋身全球創新指數25強

 

量子衛星燒錢，大家都知道，一個國家有錢也未必投資到如此的一個項目上，畢竟選擇有輕重緩急之分，民生當在第一。不過一個國家在解決溫飽之後，如何投資往往體現國家整體對未來的判斷。中國在運用資金方麵顯然有巨大的效果，但問題也多多，產能過剩就是國家主導經濟失敗的最顯著的象征。即使在科技教育方麵，將資源放在幾個尖端的項目上也不是能輕易斷定優劣的，全麵提高教育（小中大學），難道不比在一個尖端技術花幾百億更重要？

 

反過來不少及其先進的技術對一個國家的經濟命運有著至關緊要的影響，有萬億美元市場的效應，也是一個國家必爭的領域。

 

複雜。

 

量子衛星有以點帶麵的效應，是個物有所值的項目。它說的是“量子物理研究”，但中國美國都知道，其中一個關鍵是信息安全，沒這，美國在中國基本長驅直入，中國沒轍。

 

FORMER NSA DIRECTOR Michael Hayden: America is ‘really good’ at stealing data from other countries

 

研製頭頭潘建偉說是在2005年就“把握了世界所有最先進的技術”，然後在中國搞。歐洲日本美國都想搞，但政府就是沒法讓國內所有勢力達成共識，在有錢不夠分的環境下從某些人手裏把錢投到這一項目上。我看來最形象的不僅僅是美國企業高管們的經商思維，也代表了老百姓的心態。

 

在美國，聽到“窮人也得享福”的故事多了，不少人窮得每個月生活費用都不能保障，但卻是寧願借高利貸也要度假（所以美國高利貸行業很火），一般中國人簡直不可思議，中國人忍著幾頓飯少吃，省下錢應急或留在教育上，全是骨子裏就有的本能。

 

所以不是利益權利扯皮，多少有點民族性。

 

也許《華爾街日報》的態度頗有代表性，既承認中國實質性的進步，也為自己忙於爭吵不能著眼大局感到哀傷，隻能酸一把？這酸勁，在講起潘建偉時的用詞是最有體現：國家撐腰，潘建偉把自己的博導維也納大學Anton Zeilinger也給“躍進”了，現在博導Zeilinger是在學生潘建偉的衛星那做實驗。

 

 

China’s Latest Leap Forward Isn’t Just Great—It’s Quantum

Beijing launches the world’s first quantum-communications satellite into orbit

 

BEIJING—A rocket that shot skyward from the Gobi Desert early Tuesday is expected to propel China to the forefront of one of science’s most challenging fields.

 

It also is set to launch Beijing far ahead of its global rivals in the drive to acquire a highly coveted asset in the age of cyberespionage: hack-proof communications.

 

State media said China sent the world’s first quantum-communications satellite into orbit from a launch center in Inner Mongolia about 1:40 a.m. Tuesday. Five years in the making, the project is being closely watched in global scientific and security circles.

 

The quantum program is the latest part of China’s multibillion-dollar strategy over the past two decades to draw even with or surpass the West in hard-sciences research.

 

Scientists in the U.S., Europe, Japan and elsewhere are rushing to exploit the strange and potentially powerful properties of subatomic particles, but few with as much state support as those in China, researchers say. Quantum technology is a top strategic focus in the country’s five-year economic development plan, released in March.

 

Beijing hasn’t disclosed how much money it has allocated to quantum research or to building the 1,400-pound satellite. But funding for basic research, which includes quantum physics, was $101 billion in 2015, up from $1.9 billion in 2005.

 

U.S. federal funding for quantum research is about $200 million a year, according to a congressional report in July by a group of science, defense, intelligence and other officials. It said development of quantum science would “enhance U.S. national security,” but said fluctuations in funding had set back progress.

 

Beijing, meanwhile, has tried to lure Chinese-born, foreign-educated experts in quantum physics back to China, including Pan Jianwei, the physicist who is leading the project.

 

“We’ve taken all the good technology from labs around the world, absorbed it and brought it back,” Mr. Pan told Chinese state TV in an interview that aired on Monday.

 

With state support, Mr. Pan was able to leapfrog his former Ph.D. adviser, University of Vienna physicist Anton Zeilinger, who said he has tried since 2001 to convince the European Space Agency to launch a similar satellite.

 

“It’s a difficult process, which takes a lot of time,” said Mr. Zeilinger, who is now working on his former student’s satellite.

 

Neither Mr. Pan nor the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which is directing the project, responded to requests for comment. The European Space Agency and the U.S.’s National Science Foundation, which provides federal funding for basic American science research, also didn’t respond to requests for comment.

 

China’s investment in the field is likely being driven in part by fear of U.S. cyber capabilities, said John Costello, a fellow at Washington, D.C.-based New America specializing in China and cybersecurity, pointing to 2013 disclosures that the U.S. had penetrated deeply into Chinese networks. He also noted that U.S. institutions are researching how to build powerful quantum computers theoretically capable of shattering the math-based encryption now used world-wide for secure communication. “The Chinese government is aware that they are growing particularly susceptible to electronic espionage,” Mr. Costello said.

 

However, quantum communication is defensive in nature, he noted, and wouldn’t benefit from what the U.S. has identified as China’s state-sponsored hacking program.

 

Quantum encryption is secure against any kind of computing power because information encoded in a quantum particle is destroyed as soon as it is measured. Gregoir Ribordy, co-founder of Geneva-based quantum cryptography firm ID Quantique, likened it to sending a message written on a soap bubble. “If someone tries to intercept it when it’s being transmitted, by touching it, they make it burst,” he said.

 

Quantum physicists have recently advanced the use of photons to communicate securely over short distances on earth. The satellite, if successful, would vastly expand the range of unhackable communication.

 

To test whether quantum communications can take place at a global scale, Mr. Pan has told state media, he and his team will attempt to beam a quantum cryptographic key through space from Beijing to Vienna.

 

“It would be enormous” if the test succeeded, said Ma Xiaosong, a Vienna-trained quantum physicist at Nanjing University who worked on early phases of the satellite project.

 

 

U.S. security experts also question whether intricacies of quantum communication can be simplified enough for use in a conflict situation.

 

“Inevitably these kinds of technologies have problems and things get messed up by the people using them, unless they have gone through extensive training,” said Peter Mattis, a fellow at the Jamestown Foundation who studies China’s intelligence services.

 

Whatever the challenges, the University of Vienna’s Mr. Zeilinger said, the satellite puts China and the field of quantum mechanics on the verge of a significant technological breakthrough. “In the long run, there is a good chance that this will replace our current communications technology,” he said. “I see no basic reason why it won’t happen.”

 

In a January interview with the journal Nature, Mr. Pan said the satellite showed China’s scientists had stopped following in the footsteps of others. To drive the point home, Chinese state media on Monday said the satellite had been named Micius after a 5th century B.C. philosopher who opposed offensive warfare.

 

“I think China has an obligation not just to do something for ourselves—many other countries have been to the moon, have done manned spaceflight—but to explore something unknown,” he said. 

 

 

 

[XC11]

Elon Musk 或 Paul Allen 應該做這件事情。