When you have two “Sputnik moments” in the same week, you really haven’t had a Sputnik moment at all.
First, tech stocks took a dive after the little-known Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek created a model known as R1. It supposedly performs well against industry leaders and cost only $5.6 million to train. NPR said other companies have spent $100 million or more to get similar results.
First, tech stocks took a dive after the little-known Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek created a model known as R1. It supposedly performs well against industry leaders and cost only $5.6 million to train. NPR said other companies have spent $100 million or more to get similar results.
Nvidia, last year’s Cinderella of the chip market, lost almost $600 billion overnight.
Marc Andreessen, who developed Netscape Navigator, said, “DeepSeek-R1 is AI’s Sputnik moment.”
Meanwhile, in the education world, the nation’s report card, otherwise known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress’ biennial test of fourth and eighth graders nationwide, released its figures from the 2024 math and reading tests.
They weren’t good, especially in reading.
For eighth graders, more students (33%) scored “below basic” in reading than at any point in the 32-year history of the exam. One could argue that fourth graders did better, if having the largest group (40%) scoring “below basic” in more than 20 years, qualifies as anything good.
No one has said it, yet, that I can tell. But two years ago, when dismal civics and history scores were released, Chester E. Finn Jr., president emeritus of the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute, did. A “Sputnik” moment, he told the Washington Post.
If those scores qualify, this year’s marks certainly must, as well.
Except that the comparison doesn’t work.
Sputnik was the name of the first Soviet satellite, which was launched Oct. 4, 1957. It caught the United States by surprise and was considered the first big milestone in space exploration. Outwardly, military experts downplayed its significance, saying “satellites would have no practicable military application in the foreseeable future."
But inwardly, the nation’s resolve hardened, and the United States beat the Soviets to the moon less than 12 years later.
And that’s the problem with everybody referencing Sputnik and assigning “moments.” An event is a Sputnik moment only when it spurs an entire nation into action and hardens the resolve of its leaders.
DeepSeek may indeed represent a turning point in the battle for AI supremacy, unless its cost reports are proven false. Companies such as OpenAI and Nvidia have been operating under the assumption that AI would require more chips than ever. Now, as Antonia Hmaidi, a senior analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Berlin, told NPR, it looks as if “the U.S. was living in a bubble.”
But how much resolve do Americans have?
This much: When TikTok began to shut down earlier this month, some of them turned to a Chinese-owned social media app by the not-too-subtle name Red Note. TikTok attracted government’s ire because it was believed to be collecting data on all its American customers, and that it could use the app to disseminate propaganda. Why would Red Note be any different?
Why, for that matter, would DeepSeek?
A report by the website tech.co said, “DeepSeek is sending the data it collects to China and is completely open about this. It states: ‘We store the information we collect in secure servers located in the People’s Republic of China.’”
Reuters reported that DeepSeek had to limit new registrations because the site became so popular this week, and because it was the target of a cyberattack.
Educational performance may be more difficult to tackle, but falling NAEP scores dating back to the start of the pandemic give little reason to expect any real resolve.
Why connect these two completely different news stories? To illustrate that Americans need to find resolve from within to deal with the most vexing issues of the day, not rely on a scared-straight strategy that requires “moments” or crises to shake people from their stupor.
I easily could have added the burgeoning national debt or the nation’s housing crisis to that list. Maybe it’s part of our national DNA. When Sputnik happened, Edward Teller, known as the father of the Hydrogen bomb, called it, "A greater defeat for our country than Pearl Harbor."
Enough with the hyperbole. Solving the big problems of the day, and mustering the resolve to do it, will take much longer than a moment, just as it always has.
Marc Andreessen, who developed Netscape Navigator, said, “DeepSeek-R1 is AI’s Sputnik moment.”
Meanwhile, in the education world, the nation’s report card, otherwise known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress’ biennial test of fourth and eighth graders nationwide, released its figures from the 2024 math and reading tests.
They weren’t good, especially in reading.
For eighth graders, more students (33%) scored “below basic” in reading than at any point in the 32-year history of the exam. One could argue that fourth graders did better, if having the largest group (40%) scoring “below basic” in more than 20 years, qualifies as anything good.
No one has said it, yet, that I can tell. But two years ago, when dismal civics and history scores were released, Chester E. Finn Jr., president emeritus of the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute, did. A “Sputnik” moment, he told the Washington Post.
If those scores qualify, this year’s marks certainly must, as well.
Except that the comparison doesn’t work.
Sputnik was the name of the first Soviet satellite, which was launched Oct. 4, 1957. It caught the United States by surprise and was considered the first big milestone in space exploration. Outwardly, military experts downplayed its significance, saying “satellites would have no practicable military application in the foreseeable future."
But inwardly, the nation’s resolve hardened, and the United States beat the Soviets to the moon less than 12 years later.
And that’s the problem with everybody referencing Sputnik and assigning “moments.” An event is a Sputnik moment only when it spurs an entire nation into action and hardens the resolve of its leaders.
DeepSeek may indeed represent a turning point in the battle for AI supremacy, unless its cost reports are proven false. Companies such as OpenAI and Nvidia have been operating under the assumption that AI would require more chips than ever. Now, as Antonia Hmaidi, a senior analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Berlin, told NPR, it looks as if “the U.S. was living in a bubble.”
But how much resolve do Americans have?
This much: When TikTok began to shut down earlier this month, some of them turned to a Chinese-owned social media app by the not-too-subtle name Red Note. TikTok attracted government’s ire because it was believed to be collecting data on all its American customers, and that it could use the app to disseminate propaganda. Why would Red Note be any different?
Why, for that matter, would DeepSeek?
A report by the website tech.co said, “DeepSeek is sending the data it collects to China and is completely open about this. It states: ‘We store the information we collect in secure servers located in the People’s Republic of China.’”
Reuters reported that DeepSeek had to limit new registrations because the site became so popular this week, and because it was the target of a cyberattack.
Educational performance may be more difficult to tackle, but falling NAEP scores dating back to the start of the pandemic give little reason to expect any real resolve.
Why connect these two completely different news stories? To illustrate that Americans need to find resolve from within to deal with the most vexing issues of the day, not rely on a scared-straight strategy that requires “moments” or crises to shake people from their stupor.
I easily could have added the burgeoning national debt or the nation’s housing crisis to that list. Maybe it’s part of our national DNA. When Sputnik happened, Edward Teller, known as the father of the Hydrogen bomb, called it, "A greater defeat for our country than Pearl Harbor."
Enough with the hyperbole. Solving the big problems of the day, and mustering the resolve to do it, will take much longer than a moment, just as it always has.
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