https://www.scmp.com/rss/521230/feed Massoud Amin is a professor emeritus, Honeywell chair and director of technological leadership at the University of Minnesota. He previously led critical infrastructure security R&D for North America’s utilities after the September 11 tragedies and has advised the White House, Congress and national laboratories on technology, policy and national security. He serves as the chief technology officer of Renewable Energy Partners, and chairman and president of Energy Policy & Security Associates,... en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Massoud Amin Massoud Amin In 1900, most people lived without electricity, antibiotics or universal education. Today, life expectancy is decades longer, literacy and access to medicine are near universal in many regions, and hundreds of millions have entered the global middle class. This progress was built through science, industry, public health, education and the hard work of ordinary people who believed tomorrow could be better. The question now is whether humanity can achieve a still more audacious goal: a world in... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3340384/poverty-rates-have-plunged-can-we-all-live-swiss-2100?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3340384/poverty-rates-have-plunged-can-we-all-live-swiss-2100?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Jan 2026 21:30:10 +0000 Massoud Amin Massoud Amin Power shifts begin in places most people never see – on assembly lines making batteries and robots, along transmission lines feeding data centre clusters, in local offices selling land and in labs training artificial intelligence models. The United States and China are using these quiet levers to construct different futures. The contest will be decided not by slogans but by who builds the most productive, trusted and durable infrastructure. Those choices will shape billions of lives. The global... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3330786/quiet-us-china-tech-contest-future?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3330786/quiet-us-china-tech-contest-future?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Oct 2025 21:30:09 +0000 Massoud Amin Massoud Amin Donald Trump’s return to the presidency didn’t just shift US politics. It triggered a systemic stress test of the American republic. Constitutional, strategic, technological, fiscal and civic stabilisers are under simultaneous strain. Whether the United States adapts or drifts will shape the character of its institutions for decades. The most visible stress is constitutional. Early directives concentrated authority in the executive branch. Oversight officials have been removed, independent... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3328276/will-us-republic-survive-stress-test-trumps-presidency?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3328276/will-us-republic-survive-stress-test-trumps-presidency?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Oct 2025 12:30:15 +0000 Massoud Amin Massoud Amin Artificial intelligence (AI) is already helping to decide who gets a job interview, a loan or parole. No one voted for these systems, yet their choices shape daily life. Governments are moving fast. The European Union has passed the AI Act. The United States issued an executive order and a federal guidance plan. Britain convened an AI Safety Summit. However, none of these efforts answer the deeper question: do people accept the authority these systems wield? An accurate tool can still fail if... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3327370/without-publics-trust-ai-doomed-fail?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3327370/without-publics-trust-ai-doomed-fail?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Oct 2025 12:30:09 +0000 Massoud Amin Massoud Amin American dominance in science and innovation was not inevitable. It was a deliberate, strategic achievement born of open borders, inclusive institutions and forward-looking investment in education and research. That edge, forged over a century, is eroding – quietly but rapidly threatening the foundations of US leadership worldwide. In today’s polarised national discourse, headlines focus on tariffs, immigration and the culture wars. But behind the noise lies a far more consequential trend: the... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3310036/trumps-attack-science-risks-dismantling-century-innovation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3310036/trumps-attack-science-risks-dismantling-century-innovation?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 May 2025 12:30:10 +0000