China leads the world in 37 out of 44 critical technologies, with Western democracies falling behind in the race for scientific and research breakthroughs, a report by an Australian think tank has found. China is in a position to become the world's top technology superpower, with its dominance already spanning defence, space, robotics, energy, the environment, biotechnology, artificial intelligence (AI), advanced materials and key quantum technology, according to the report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). The key areas dominated by China include drones, machine learning, electric batteries, nuclear energy, photovoltaics, quantum sensors and critical minerals extraction, according to the Critical Technology Tracker released on Thursday. China's dominance in some fields is so entrenched that all of the world's top 10 leading research institutions for certain technologies are located in the country, according to ASPI. In comparison, the United States leads in just seven critical technologies, including space launch systems and quantum computing, according to ASPI, which receives funding from the Australian, United Kingdom and US governments, as well as private sector sources including the defence and tech industries.

What an innocent, carefree year it must have been to spawn so bland a word of the year. It has a nice ring to it, especially when spoken with the Hokkaido lilt the women's curling team -- surprise bronze medalists -- gave it during February's Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. So what if all it means is, "That's right"? Let 2018, the Year of the Dog, end as it began -- on a positive note. Speaking of dogs and beginnings: Sony's robot dog Aibo was a big hit at January's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Presidents are powerful people facing and dealing with complex nation, market and economy sized problems. Making good decisions and managing these deeply complex systems and organizations requires massive amounts of data, analysis, experience and understanding. They must process and analyze millions of data inputs, and have a clear understanding of what the data in aggregate means, and then have an understanding of how they can influence the outcomes by pulling the right levers of power and influence to achieve their goals. The responsibility of dealing with these massive levels of complexity seems almost inhuman. In fact, so inhumane, perhaps it would be better to not have a human, but a bot as President.