Month: October 2022

Why Don’t We Know What Foreign Money Is Entering Our Universities?

October 28, 2022 | Lars Schönander

This piece was originally published in The Hill. In August 2022, thanks to an investigation by the Daily Beast, a University of Maryland, College Park professor was revealed to have received a six-figure grant from Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce company, to build surveillance software. This would be concerning enough, but to make matters worse, the professor was

October 27, 2022 | Jonathon Hauenschild

Click here to download a PDF of the paper. Click here to download the policy brief. Executive Summary Federal and state governments have been working for decades to close the digital divide—the gap between those who have access to broadband and those who do not. In recent years, governments have ramped up their efforts, with spending and the number

October 21, 2022 | Lars Schönander

In a time of pronounced volatility in energy markets as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war and recent production cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+), it’s important that we have reliable data on the operations of energy companies. Thanks to a successful Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, we’re one step

October 18, 2022 | Dan Lips

This piece was originally published in the SCIF, the blog of the National Security Institute. The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, signed into law earlier this year, creates a new reporting regime for American colleges and universities, requiring them to disclose contributions from foreign sources to the National Science Foundation (NSF) if they also receive

October 14, 2022 | Ariel Deschapell

This piece was originally published in Bitcoin Magazine. The idea that Bitcoin lacks innovation compared to other cryptocurrencies is pervasive, but is it true? The Bitcoin protocol undergoes significant changes much more slowly than other cryptocurrencies, the latest, of course, being the implementation and activation of Taproot. But this is a feature, not a bug. As the foundation

October 14, 2022 | Geoff Cain

This piece was originally published in the Wall Street Journal. After many grueling nights designing and building a car in “makeshift tents,” Elon Musk emerged with a prescient lesson for Tesla. “The issue is not about coming up with a car design—it’s absolutely about the production system,” Mr. Musk said in 2019, during the unveiling

October 11, 2022 | Deepesh Chaudhari

AI has the potential to significantly improve our lives in many ways, but it also poses significant risks. On the one hand, technological advances in how computer systems can execute tasks that traditionally require human intelligence have an unprecedented potential to benefit humanity in countless ways. AI has already led to medical, transportation, and education

October 11, 2022 | Mike Wacker

This piece was originally published in the Burner Files. In a line from the cartoon Futurama that later became a viral meme, Hermes won a promotion to a grade 37 bureaucrat for uncovering a form that had been incorrectly stamped only four times. The head bureaucrat said, “You are technically correct, the best kind of correct.” When it comes

This Land is Beijing’s Land

October 11, 2022 | Lars Schönander

This piece was originally published in the American Mind. Foreign ownership of American farmland has raised bipartisan concern from all levels of government, from governors like Ron DeSantis of Florida to senators such as Iowa’s Chuck Grassley and Michigan’s Debbie Stabenow. Foreign ownership of American farmland went from 1 percent in 2000 to 2.9 percent in 2020, a 290 percent

October 11, 2022 | Lars Schönander

By Lars Schönander and Dan Lips Click here to download a PDF version of the paper. Executive Summary There is growing bipartisan recognition that American higher education is vulnerable to foreign influence and exploitation. During the 117th Congress, the House of Representatives and Senate passed legislation that would have strengthened Section 117 of the Higher Education Act

October 11, 2022 | Lars Schönander

This piece was originally published in The Hill. The 117th Congress will be remembered as a polarized time, but a recent bipartisan effort to protect U.S. agriculture from foreign investments offers a reminder of the potential for cooperation across the aisle. Recent months have seen prominent Republicans and Democrats alike recognize the importance of knowing what

October 10, 2022 | Ryan Khurana

On September 22, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) called on the National Security Advisor (NSA) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to restrict access to open-source generative AI models in response to the release of Stable Diffusion by Stability AI. Stable Diffusion is an open-source text-to-image AI that allows for the creation of

Why Conservatism Failed

October 7, 2022 | Jon Askonas

This piece was originally published in Compact. Since the rise of the modern conservative movement, its adherents have championed a Burkean respect for the hard-won wisdom of the organic social order. From William F. Buckley to Roger Scruton, conservative intellectuals have advocated for a defense of tradition under assault from the rationalistic, scientific pretensions of modern

Quarterly Activities Update

October 5, 2022 | Zach Graves

Dear friend of Lincoln: I’d like to share with you some of our team’s recent activities, including new research from Lincoln Policy, project updates from Lincoln Studio, and other developments across Lincoln Network. As we prepare for next week’s Reboot conference, take a look at what the Lincoln team has been working on over the

How Stewart Made Tucker

October 5, 2022 | Jon Askonas

This piece was originally published in the New Atlantis. Jon Stewart has a dream where he walks out onto the brightly lit set of a new TV show. He has worked for years to build this show. It’s the answer to everything wrong with the news media. For decades, Americans were fed a news diet