I haven't written a cheque in nearly 20 years! Every now and then I get a refund cheque from Amex and its a real pain trying to bank it - and yes that includes scanning or photographing.

So how do you steal expertise, old boy? Not by hacking their network, or microfilming their documents!

Crikey mate, the only way I can think of is to poach someone with expertise. And the knowhow in their brains isn't secret.

Oh wait a mo - thats what they did.

I always laugh when some article says "industrial secrets" have been stolen. There really is no such thing as an industrial secret.

Expertise - yes. You need a lot of that to build your own doo-daddle widget, but plans and designs - no Those documents leave out more info than they give you. Any software or hardware engineer worth their salt can do a better job by tearing down of an existing bit of kit to work out most of the information they need to design their own stuff.

If you don't believe me just read the tech manual for your latest electronic gadget - did that suddenly make you an expert in using the gadget? or more puzzled than when you started.

Still don't believe me? Go to github and read some source code. Oh wait, I'm wrong - there are lots of programmers out there that just love documenting their secret sauce!

Nope - Maths works with axiomatic models and one of the axioms for Euclidean geometry is that space is continuous. So circles can be perfect. In addition pi crops up in all kinds of places apart from geometry for example infinite series . . . .
Your issue is whether our Euclidean geometry model is an accurate representation of the world around us. You may or may not be correct in thinking that quantum mechanics implies that space comes in "discrete" lumps when you get down to the Planck distance, but pi and its properties don't rely on quantum models.

Guys, Just accept that you are falling behind in yet another technology race.

I, for one, welcome our new masters - Ni Hao!

I call bullshit. If some brilliant young scientist has a great insight but needs time to analyse the data and get their arguments in order, then how is it that the non-brilliant poacher can get the job done faster?

My guess is that someone is raising these bogus arguments in the hope of creating barriers to publication that can be used to delay the entire openness process.

Whenever these stories surface, no-one ever speculates about the type of secret that we are supposed to care about.
Passwords? that's already a busted flush - just look at the spread of OTP.
In my experience, most secrets are about avoiding embarrassment over top brass misdeeds, or financial info that will be profitable only if leaked immediately.
I struggle to think of anything that needs to stay secret for more than a few weeks before it is worthless.

What is this "real world" of which you speak?

All I can say is that I didnt hear overloud boomboxes on the streets, or in the parks. Of course there may be rough estates where the problem lies, but at least some of the dancing is non-intrusive.

Loud boom boxes are one thing, but I would guess that street musicians were playing for the dancers in former times.

I know, but the dancing was everywhere we went, so we got used to the sight and accepted it for normality in China

Breath of fresh air, I say.

A country that has never attacked another, has built fantastic roads in 3rd world countries, values trade above the military, has thousands of years of civilization and culture . . .

America seems to want to pick a cold war with its new rival, but economics always wins out in the end.

Cue for the shills and trolls to list out human rights violations, (pot calling kettle black) the horrors of autocratic government (gotta love the polarised politics alternative) and a host of other negative stories.

Ni hao!

When we toured China in 2018 we were amazed at all these square dancing ladies. They look so graceful, whether its on a street corner or up on top of a hill in a city park. In Beijing, walking down the street each evening, you could see half a dozen getting started, then passers by would join in until 30 of them were in action. And its not just randomly waving arms, they were all synchronised and in time to the music.

The music didnt seem too loud, or intrusive, but maybe its gotten out of hand. Still, I would say this is part of the culture and should be celebrated.

Could the massive pipeline of Internet traffic be of interest to the equally massive government communications base sitting on the cliffs nearby?
www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/what-really-goes-gchq-intelligence-2440000

A boondoggle sucking up tax dollars, doing an awful job, more interested in expanding its own influence than doing anything useful, and certainly most interested in fighting all other branches of the state for budget.

Ah OK, cancel all that - its military and cannot be questioned or held to account in any way.