Between 1405 and 1433, the Chinese admiral Zheng He led seven enormous naval expeditions across the Indian Ocean. His fleets visited Southeast Asia, India, Arabia and East Africa, establishing diplomatic relations, exchanging goods and demonstrating the power of the Ming empire. China was one of the wealthiest and most technologically sophisticated civilisations on Earth, and its capacity to organise these expeditions was extraordinary. And then the voyages stopped.
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Artificial intelligence, robotics and societal change: The last revolution in the history of humanity?