The automation of society continues apace. The following is from The Economist, 5th July 2025.

(Chinese) “State planners regard data as a factor of production, alongside labour, capital and land. They want to avoid it being hoarded inside companies and make it available for widespread use. Local governments have built data exchanges to allow it to be monetised and traded between state agencies, state-owned enterprises and China’s private companies. In Shenzhen, a tech hub in China’s south, firms can buy data on how consumers use power from the national grid, for example. A national data exchange is in the works. And in June the country’s State Council, China’s cabinet, announced rules to prevent data being siloed by competing government departments.”

Automatic.