Every week, Erik Torenberg, Dan Romero, Antonio Garcia Martinez and frequent special guests discuss what's happening in technology, business, politics, and beyond.
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Today on Moment of Zen, Erik Torenberg and Samo Burja explore how China&#039;s elite universities are creating a ruling class similar to America&#039;s, with student activism and credentialism reshaping both nations&#039; power structures. 
 
 
 
Make sure to subscribe to Samo Burja&#039;s Bismarck Brief and the Live Players podcast to read analyses and briefs like this one: 
 
 
 Bismarck Brief: ⁠https://brief.bismarckanalysis.com/⁠ 
 
 
 Live Players: ⁠https://link.chtbl.com/liveplayers⁠ 
 
 
 
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Key Highlights 
 
Core Thesis: Elite Convergence 
 
 
 China and America are creating remarkably similar ruling classes despite being geopolitical rivals with different political systems 
 
 Universities are the primary mechanism driving this convergence in both countries 
 
 
China&#039;s Leadership Evolution 
 
 
 Historic shift: For the first time, Chinese leaders are educated in China&#039;s own elite universities (Peking, Tsinghua, etc.) rather than abroad or through practical experience 
 
 From engineers to lawyers: China moving from technocrats with engineering backgrounds to university-credentialed elites 
 
 Signaling theory: Chinese elite universities now function like Harvard/MIT as intelligence signals 
 
 
&quot;Chinese Woke&quot; vs Western Woke 
 
 
 China already has student activism - but it&#039;s Marxist/Maoist students organizing workers&#039; unions 
 
 Ideological trap: Communist Party struggles because students use party ideology to critique the party itself 
 
 Future prediction: Chinese &quot;woke&quot; will likely focus on gender/feminism rather than racial/ethnic issues due to China&#039;s homogeneity 
 
 
University Power Dynamics 
 
 
 Zero-sum tournament: Universities create gatekeeping for elite positions in both countries 
 
 Elite clubs, not education: Universities function more as exclusive clubs than learning institutions 
 
 Defensibility: University power will be extremely difficult to dislodge without radical intervention 
 
 
Consequences for China 
 
 
 Positives: Better rule of law, higher status for journalists/lawyers, more humanistic perspective 
 
 Negatives: Loss of business acumen, reduced technical expertise, potential future incompetence as credentials replace competence 
 
 
Mirror Society Concept 
 
 
 Both nations face similar paradoxes: Ideological foundations that create unresolvable contradictions 
 
 Generational warfare: Young elites using ideology to displace older generations in both systems 
 
 Talent retention: China increasingly keeping its best students domestically rather than sending them to American universities 
 
 
Long-term Prediction 
 
China&#039;s government may become incompetent as university credentials replace practical experience and technical knowledge

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The Data