Try to think of something advanced but theoretically possible that would rapidly proliferate. No weapons.
My first thought was some kind of farm tech leading to a second agricultural revolution, allowing AES countries to thrive despite sanctions. Some leap forward in permaculture or vertical farms or whatever.
Another idea was a breakthrough in cryptography makings comms be completely anonymous, giving insurgent movements a more even playing field.
China actually has some compact reactors in the works, the size of a bedroom. You can power it from thorium and other common radioactive materials that you can get pretty easily just from having a single dig site or mine nearby of any type and kind. Still in the preliminary stages of development, though.
The more interesting thing is how China is implementing AI to build dams and other concrete constructions faster and safer. It is already looking promising, where their hybrid human-AI constructions doubled the speed of superdam building from 10 years to 4 years to build (re: this has already happened successfully. they are now working on nearly full AI dams to get a projected speed of 2 years to build dams the size of the three gorges). Theres already studies and preliminary work on using it for nuclear construction to speed up the oft-cited 10 year construction time of nuclear reactors, but that will be slightly trickier than a dam depending on what theyre going for.
That sound you just heard was me getting a powerful whiff of future shock. This is not the world I was born in to.
yeah the fact is it has already happened partially on one project in 4 years. heres their 2 year plan, which is bound to succeed. i read the papers and posted them here translated at one point, really impressive and solid tech.
heres the 4 year dam, the 4th largest dam in the world (or the largest arch dam in the world): https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3125651/how-china-built-worlds-largest-arch-dam-just-four-years?module=inline&pgtype=article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baihetan_Dam
china is in a uniquely good position for hydropower. all of those rivers blasting off the tibetan plateau have huge potential for dozens of high powered massive dams. it also brings an added benefit of regional stability, people used to die in the millions to floods before the communist party began constructing dams and flood resistant cities. this offsets the environmental impact inherent to dams, imo. we gotta make sure people arent dying first and foremost.