Chris Miller

@cmillerphd.bsky.social

210 followers 150 following 10 posts

Postdoctoral Fellow with the Jackman Humanities Institute at the University of Toronto

Studying death, dying, and nonreligion

https://chrismiller.ca/

Videos

Christopher R. Miller is an American historian, specialising in economic history and international relations. He is the author of the book Chip War. He is a professor at Tufts University and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. .. more

Economics 20%

Political science 19%

Posts Replies Media Videos

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Putin isn't in it for the Money

My latest for the Wall Street Journal Vladimir Putin hasn’t accepted the Trump administration’s plan for peace with Ukraine, even though it’s highly favorable to Moscow’s interests. The plan proposes lifting sanctions, reintegrating Russia into the global economy, unfreezing billions of Russian foreign exchange reserves, and allowing U.S. investment in Russian data-center and rare-earth pro…

Reposts 0 7h

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The Shifting Politics of AI Chip Export Controls

It’s been a busy couple of weeks in the world of semiconductors and AI…

Reposts 4 1d

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Robotics Manufacturing: The Rise of Japan

“To the Americans, a robot is a computer attached to a mechanism. To Japanese, a robot is a mechanism attached to a computer.” The future of the world economy will be shaped either by the rapid deployment of robots or by disappointment that robotics fails to improve nearly as rapidly as boosters suggest. Either way, the trajectory matters. I’ve been digging into the history of robotics to help understand this. There were multiple robotics “races” in the early decades of the rob…

Reposts 2 7d

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A Theory of Economic Warfare from 1945

Rereading Hirschman's National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade A textbook for the modern prince should indeed contain, in addition to Machiavelli’s classic chapters, extensive new sections on the most efficient use of quotas, exchange controls, capital investment, and other instruments of economic warfare.

Reposts 6 9d

Chris Miller @cmillerphd.bsky.social · 20d

Happening next week! Join Dr. Bonny Ibhawoh (@giazilo.bsky.social) for a conversation on democracy and human rights

Webinar happening Thursday November 27 at 10 AM Eastern

More info below or on the @socialrepair.bsky.social website: www.social-repair.org/november-sem...

Chris Miller @cmillerphd.bsky.social · Nov 11

For more details and the Zoom link please visit the event webpage: www.social-repair.org/november-sem...

SOCIAL REPAIR: REPAIRING SOCIALITY, SAFEGUARDING DEMOCRACY: Transatlantic North-South Narratives and Practices of Deep Equality.

www.social-repair.org

Chris Miller @cmillerphd.bsky.social · Nov 11

Excited to be hosting this webinar later this month! Join Dr. Bonny Ibhawoh who will reflect on the intertwined crises of democracy and human rights.

Hosted by @socialrepair.bsky.social this event takes place Thursday November 27 at 10 AM Eastern

Reposted by Chris Miller

Social Repair @socialrepair.bsky.social · Nov 7

Event Announcement! We are hosting an online seminar with Dr Bonny Ibhawoh (@giazilo.bsky.social) on Democracy and the Tyranny of Possessive Individualism: Reclaiming the Collective in Human Rights

Thurs 27 Nov 10:00 ET / 17:00 BRT / 17:00 SAST / 15:00 GMT

Zoom ID: 990 4982 8324
Passcode: 929359

Online Seminar
Democracy and the Tyranny of Possessive Individualism: Reclaiming the Collective in Human Rights
With Dr Bonny Ibhawoh

Dr. Bonny Ibhawoh is Professor and Senator William McMaster Chair in Global Human Rights at McMaster University, Canada, where he also serves as Vice-Provost for International Affairs. He is the Independent Expert-Rapporteur and current Chair of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development. He has taught human rights at universities in Africa, Europe, the United States, and Canada. Dr. Ibhawoh is Project Director of Participedia, a global research network on public participation and democratic innovation, and the founding Director of the McMaster Centre for Human Rights and Restorative Justice. He also leads the Confronting Atrocity Project, a transnational initiative on restorative justice. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

In this talk, Dr Ibhawoh will examine how the intertwined crises of democracy and human rights stem from what C B Macpherson called possessive individualism — the liberal notion of the self as an autonomous proprietor owing little or nothing to society. He will argue that this possessive ethos, embedded in both democratic and human rights traditions, has hollowed out collective life, reducing democracy to market competition and rights to individualized claims. Drawing on historical and contemporary examples, from postcolonial human rights charters and the UN Right to Development to movements for climate justice, the talk contends that restoring democratic legitimacy and moral purpose requires rebalancing the relationship between individual freedom and collective responsibility.

Date and time:
Thursday 27 November 2025
17:00 - 18:00 South Africa / 10:00 - 11:00 Canada (Eastern) / 12:00 - 13:00 Brazil São Paulo / 15:00 - 16:00 United Kingdom

Zoom Link: https://swanseauniversity.zoom.us/j/99049828324?pwd=w9p42lidubXU5bc1HtcCFMVbxazy6A.1

Meeting ID: 990 4982 8324
Passcode: 929359

Substack

A Competitive Assessment of U.S. Software...from 1984

What did the future of software look like in 1984? That year, the U.S. Department of Commerce commissioned a report to analyze the future of the software industry in the U.S. and abroad. The industry was booming, led by U.S. players, but many feared increasing international competition.

Reposts 1 Oct 31

Reposted by Chris Miller

Jackman Humanities Institute @jhievents.bsky.social · Oct 29

🌿 Death, nature, and renewal.

Chris Miller and Melissa Gismondi discuss the growing movement toward natural or “green” burials and what these practices reveal about our relationship with death, nature, and the cycles of life.

🎧 Listen now uoft.me/jhi-podcast

@cmillerphd.bsky.social

Speech bubbles in red and teal and a portrait of Chris Miller. Text overlay is Humanities at Large, a podcast from the Jackman Humanities Institute. With host Melissa Gismondi. Going Underground: The World of Natural Burials with Chris Miller.

Substack

Why China Keeps Winning the Trade War

My latest for the Financial Times The Biden administration liked to use the term “small yard, high fence” when describing its export controls on advanced chips. The idea was that highly specialised US technology had to be protected — but that the protection was limited and would not impede broader trade.

Reposts 3 Oct 27

Reposted by Chris Miller

Nonreligion in a Complex Future @nonreligioncf.bsky.social · Oct 27

Happening this Wednesday!

Register for the latest webinar in our series, Nonreligion, Past and Present: Interdisciplinary Conversations, a collaboration with @ishash.bsky.social. This webinar will focus on science and nonreligion.

Oct 29, 1pm ET

Register here: uottawa-ca.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Nonreligion, Past and Present: Interdisciplinary Conversations

Science and Nonreligion

Renny Thomas (Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal), Stephen Weldon (University of Oklahoma), Bernard Lightman (York University, Toronto), and Lauren Strumos (University of Alberta).

Substack

Industrial Policy and Economic Security

Takeaways from two days of illuminating discussion On Tuesday and Wednesday, Larry Summers and I convened a conference at the Harvard Kennedy School on Industrial Policy and Economic Security. At a time when Beijing and Washington are weaponizing many aspects of their economic relationship—and as the U.S. government levies vast tariffs and takes equity stakes in leading firms—we saw a need for more conc…

Reposts 9 Oct 25

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Why "Strategic Autonomy" is the wrong framework for Europe's Chips Act 2.0

From a new piece in Foreign Affairs I had the opportunity earlier this year to participate in a series of conversations hosted by the GeoTech Center of Globsec, the European think tank, on the future of the European chips industry. It was timely because Europe is debating updates to its own Chips Act, while juggling a series of interrelated challenges: the demands of rearmament, Trump’s t…

Reposts 5 Oct 16

Substack

The 'War of the Factories'

Rereading Stefan Link's Forging Global Fordism As last week’s rare earth export controls illustrate, China sees industrial capacity as core to its national power. After decades of offshoring, America now dreams of reindustrialization, partly driven by a fear that its hollowed-out industrial base couldn’t compete in a protracted conflict. Before the rare earth moves, I reread Stefan Link’s great book

Reposts 30 Oct 11

Reposted by Chris Miller

Social Repair @socialrepair.bsky.social · Oct 6

Masterclass announcement! Lori Beaman of @nonreligioncf.bsky.social will be talking to us on "Exploring
Deep Equality" next week on Thursday 16th October.

3pm South Africa / 9am Canada / 10am Brazil / 2pm UK

Zoom link: us06web.zoom.us/j/8160513998...

Access code: 108926

Exploring Deep Equality

Speaker: Prof Lori G. Beaman

Lori G. Beaman is the Canada Research Chair in Religious Diversity and Social Change and a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa. She directs Nonreligion in a Complex Future, an international, comparative, and interdisciplinary project exploring the social impact of the growth of nonreligion in diverse cultural contexts. Her research focuses on nonreligion, religious diversity, equality, and law, engaging both mainstream and underrepresented populations. She is the author of Deep Equality in an Era of Religious Diversity (Oxford University Press).

Thursday 16th October 2025

15:00–16:30 - South Africa / 9:00–10:30 - Canada / 10:00–11:30 - Brazil / 14:00–14:30 - United Kingdom

Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81605139987?pwd=0fqVBC5RMrdI5eaQKHiCvEguMespPB.1

Access code: 108926

Substack

"Every Screen on the Planet": My review of a new book on TikTok

A book recommendation: Emily Baker-White’s Every Screen on the Planet: The War over TikTok, a great account of the TikTok controversy, which is published this week.

Reposts 4 Oct 2

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The Quantum Supply Chain

Some preliminary thoughts Last month I had the opportunity to moderate two different panels at the Chicago Quantum Forum. I’m far from an expert in quantum but have been spending more time in the space, given all the connections between semiconductors, AI and quantum.

Reposts 15 Sep 25

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The "Critical Minerals" Crisis of 100 Years Ago

I review a fascinating dissertation on interwar metals trading and the "Age of Alloy Steel" After Beijing used restrictions on rare earth magnet exports to shut down Ford auto plants and force Trump to stand down in his tariff war with China, reducing America’s minerals dependencies have been a fixation in Washington. The Pentagon signed a very generous deal with America’s only rare earth mining firm, MP Materials, giving the government an equ…

Reposts 23 Sep 14

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Trump wants China "addicted" to Nvidia chips. Beijing has other ideas.

My latest piece for the Financial Times Shortly after US President Donald Trump changed his mind last month and decided that there was, in fact, no security risk in allowing Chinese customers to buy Nvidia’s advanced H20 artificial intelligence chips, Beijing appeared to hesitate. Trump’s reversal looked like a straightforward win for China. Yet Beijing ordered its regulators to investigate w…

Reposts 5 Aug 11

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Are Displays the Next Batteries?

Why screens for phones and computers are a new tech battleground After President Trump tweeted in April that the “WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN” would be investigated for national security risk, it was worth asking what component after chips would attract attention. Rare earth magnets are certainly one. Flat panel displays—the screens in smartphones, TVs, and computers—are another area where economic and security co…

Reposts 3 Aug 6

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America's surprising trade surplus in chips

And other puzzles from semiconductor trade data Here’s a puzzle: South Korea is one of the world’s biggest chip producers. The U.S. runs a trade surplus with it.

Reposts 14 Jul 28

Reposted by Chris Miller

Social Repair @socialrepair.bsky.social · Jul 14

📣Event Announcement!📣

Upcoming online seminar:
To the right, the feminine: Religious women and the struggles over the public policy repertoire in health in Brazil

Tuesday, 22 July 2025
16:00 – 17:00 / South Africa;
10:00 – 11:00 / Ottawa;
11:00 – 12:00 / São Paulo;
15:00 – 16:00 / United Kingdom

To the Right, the Feminine: Religious Women and the Struggles Over the Public Policy Repertoire in Health in Brazil
Speaker: Jacqueline Moraes Teixeira
Jacqueline Moraes Teixeira is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health and Society at the School of Public Health, University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil. She is also a researcher at the Brazilian Center of Analysis and Planning (CEBRAP), where her work explores intersections of gender, race, sexuality, and religion.
She holds a PhD and a Master’s degree in Social Anthropology from USP. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences from USP (2008), and a Bachelor’s degree in Theology from Mackenzie Presbyterian University (2012).
Her research focuses on religion and social markers of difference, the role of education in promoting human rights, and how public health policies are shaped and implemented.

Discussant: Ninian Frenguelli
Ninian Frenguelli is a Postdoctoral Research Officer at the Cyber Threats Research Centre (CYTREC), based at Swansea University, Wales, United Kingdom.

DATE: Tuesday, 22 July 2025
TIME: 16:00 – 17:00 / South Africa 10:00 – 11:00 / Canada (Ottawa) 11:00 – 12:00 / Brazil (São Paulo) 15:00 – 16:00 / United Kingdom https://us06web.zoom.us/j/8611 7216945? pwd=fXTVTroazKlrXZDRpSjlvVLk Yk71G2.1

Hosted by: Repairing Sociality, Safeguarding Democragy research group
Funded by the Trans-Atlantic Platform on Democracy, Governance and Trust

Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento, University of Ottawa, Swansea University, University of the Western Cape, Walter Sisulu University

Substack

The 'Chip War' Under Trump

I spoke with Aaron Mak of Politico on what we've learned about semiconductor policy as we approach the six month mark of the Trump administration. I spoke with Aaron Mak of Politico on what we've learned about semiconductor policy as we approach the six month mark of the Trump administration.

Reposts 0 Jun 30

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My conversation with Senator Todd Young

At a great event at AEI on science, technology, and R&D Senator Todd Young has been a leading voice in the U.S. Congress on science and technology policy. He played a major role in devising and passing the Chips Act and served on the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology, which just released its final report (link

Reposts 0 Jun 30

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What Apple Can Tell Us About Tech Supply Chain Shifts

My colleague Vishnu Venugopalan of Harvard Kennedy School and I just finished a big analysis of Apple’s supply chain, which you can find here.

Reposts 6 Jun 30

Chris Miller @cmillerphd.bsky.social · Mar 26

Still time to register for the 2025 EIR Conference, happening in just 2 weeks!

Register here: www.eventbrite.ca/e/aar-easter...

Chris Miller @cmillerphd.bsky.social · Feb 19

Registration for our 2025 conference is open! Join us at St. Lawrence University (Canton, NY) as we reflect on 'The Future(s) of Religious Studies'

View the full program on our website: eiraar.org/index.php/re...

Register now: www.eventbrite.ca/e/aar-easter...

@aarweb.bsky.social

A poster advertising the EIR's 2025 conference, running April 4-6 2025. Light blue background with a dark blue foreground, showing a cartoon scholar reflecting on the future of the study of religion within universities.

Substack

Trump Can Make Russia Pay to Rebuild Ukraine

The West has frozen $300 billion of Moscow’s assets, but Europe has stood in the way of using them The key to securing Europe at less cost to U.S. taxpayers may be sitting in European bank accounts. The West has frozen around $300 billion of Russian foreign-exchange assets, but European obstinacy has prevented these funds from being used to compensate Ukraine for war damages. President-elect Trump should insist that the Kremlin’s reserves be mobilize…

Reposts 16 Jan 17

Chris Miller @cmillerphd.bsky.social · Dec 13

CFP closes Monday! Submit proposals here: forms.gle/MMC1qC7BKt78...

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